HACKED!: Microwave Transformer becomes a High Current Transformer 

I’m a little late to the game. Welder here. Stick welding needs about 34 volts to work properly.

WARNING: Microwave ovens contain high voltage capacitors. Even when unplugged, these can kill you. DO NOT TAKE APART A MICROWAVE UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

You need at least 30-36 volts to do any arc welding. You can stick weld at as low as 60-70 amps, but you need the voltage to get the arc going and maintain it. I think you'd need 2 transformers for it. Maybe re-visit this project later? Your videos are very informative!

I'm a video and this welder kills me

"someone who knows how to weld" is the key here. It took me ages to learn how to lay a proper bead and I was using a very nice welder. Welding is one of the few things that require a developed skill in addition to knowledge.

Aluminum is really hard to weld - recommend trying iron or steel for your next attempts

"Capaciturrrrrr" Never gets old

FYI, instead of putting in the effort to shreds up the coil like he did, you can just grind out the weld near the base that holds the transformer together and then easily pull out whatever you want without damaging it.

those aluminum electrodes are for Tig welding, used as filler rod. which is completely different from stick welding

Dear Scott: You mentioned that the output voltage of the 2nd design is about 8 volts. My late husband was an auto mechanic and in his shop the arc welders ran around 24 volts. I am suggesting a 24v design. Hope this helps.

be aware to discharge the high voltage capacitor before you start messing inside the microwave. also the magnetron may contain beryllium oxide which is very dangerous once you break it apart and inhale dust of it. only mess with microwaves if you know what you are doing.

A store bought welder would be safer and more effective but where is the fun in that?

use both the transformers together

3:22 we are going to make a SHUNT (any electroboom viewers?)

Very rare video of failures. That saves a ton of time for others who want to do the same. And this is a valuable lesson. Thanks for posting.

Fuck me i was waiting for the skateboard to be welded but nope.

Welding requires at least a minimum of 24 volts. The weld is created by the amperage but also the the potential difference between the the electrodes. It will also help reduce loss if you keep the secondary coil as close to the core as possible.

Trying to weld Aluminium without welding experience with a homemade welder is VERY ambitious, as others have pointed out (not that that's necessarily a bad thing). I'm not a professional welder, but I have a little bit of experience with WIG/TIG welding and the theory behind it, so I wanted to point out some things I noticed (some of which others have already pointed out, but I'll repeat them for completeness). First off, even experienced Welders often don't enjoy welding Aluminium. This is due to the oxide layer which forms on the surface and has a higher melting point than the unoxidized Aluminium below it. As a result, you'll have a puddle of molten Aluminium, between the surface layers, which will simply run away once the surface melts. This is normally alleviated by preparing the surface with a wire brush or similar, removing the oxide layer (which will form again very quickly, so timing is key there). Another trick is welding with AC (normally, TIG welding is DC with the Workpiece as the Anode, because the part receiving the electrons gets hotter), which will help breaking up the oxide layer with the changing current direction. The third problem you have would be the missing inert atmosphere, which would prevent new oxide from forming during the welding and keep the weld pool stable. On general welding: I have no experience with this personally, because my Inverter has a HF-Starter, but as far as I know, starting an arc without HF is quite skill intensive ("Streichzündung" in german). I think you have to touch the electrode to the workpiece for the current to flow, and then lift it at the right time for the arc to form (but as I said, no experience). Also, for a stable arc, you need to roughly maintain the distance between workpiece and electrode, which can be pretty hard if your electrode melts off (like it does with stick welding) and damn near impossible if it quickly melts away (like your aluminium filler wire). This problem is increased by AC welding, because as mentioned above, the part receiving electrons gets hot. With all this being said, my recommendation would be a design change to steel. If you put a steel sleeve over the axle and fasten it with the screw, it should have no problem taking the load. Then you can weld your motor mount (made out of steel) to this steel sleeve. Keep up making these awesome videos! PS: If you happen to live in southern germany and want to practice welding with a commercial inverter, you can shoot me a pm.

I would recommend you put some more turns on the secondary. Aim for around 26 volts AC output. Then use a full bridge rectifier and a filter capacitor of sufficient rating to convert the ac power to a smoothly rectified DC output, which is almost mandatory for aluminum and recommended for steel.

I love that you don't just cherry pick the projects that work out to post.

See what Photonicinduction has to offer on transformers.

why do u end the vid so fast me wanna see coin getting rekt

go to grand thompson he has a video on that

"...showed a bit more potential..." lel

One of the best about Great Scott he doesn't make fake videos.

love ur videos dude..

hehehe hungarian text on the sticker :D

Let's all donate to buy him a tig welder

Microwave Transformer is more suitable to be a spot welder. But for trying to weld with it I give a LIKE.

Scot: shows a clip in which he welds a metal sheet Also scot : will i be able to veld

You tried arc welding with high current whereas high current is for resistance welding. (And high voltage for arc welding)

If you are doing this make sure you discharge the capacitor!

King of random lied us all!

I find it fun and interesting, that when I watched this in high school I had no idea what was being explained, and 6 years later approaching grad school and I can look back on this like "woah I know all of this now" lol

Lel this guy is such a brave, salvaging the toxic magnetron is dangerous but this guy did a do, that's amazing

Aluminium is quite difficult to weld, especially for a beginner. Have you tried welding just regular steel?

use 2 of them in series they will surely work

Rewind the first one and put them in series.

If you spray lemon juice on the aluminum prior to trying to weld or solder it, it keeps it from oxidizing.

From using truck batteries for welding, I have found that 36 volts does fine, any voltages under 36 makes it hard to maintain any weldable arc

The courrent is AC For soldering the better courrent is dc courrent. You can convert ac from dc with a big diode bridge, (Over 100 A) and reapeat that experiment

FYI this is a failed attempt. so decide if you still wanna watch

Hey Scott, the maximun power of a transformer is its area^2 and you can get more from the wall plug, you Just need to connect the primary coils of two transformers or maybe 3 in parallel and the outputs in series with that you can get like 24 volts or near and that works pretty well, I have a welder and know to weld but I made one a time ago and works pretty fine byee

Arc welding is a fair bit higher voltage, enough to feel. I was subjected to this as a kid holding up an angle iron piece for my father to weld, however the ground was attached to the frame, not my piece. So as i moved fractionally to disconnect the circuit, I became the circuit. It was very mild compared to 240v AC. I would hazard a guess at 50v

“Luckily, I got this microwave a while back...” -Great Scott!

Wow !!!! You are good at physic.

this guys english voice is so cool sounding.

HACKED!: Microwave Transformer becomes a High Current Transformer

Why surge protector strips are useless with microwave transformers: FYI: Additional safety information here: Make Lichtenberg wood art safely on the youtube channel of bigclivedotcom. At 2:09 he begins a detailed diagram including how regular power surge suppressors are not able to cut the power on microwave transformer jolts. He talks like an engineer and has very technical explanations as to why he says to never use a microwave transformer. Kids have died using these devices outside their intended use.

I've got an old microwave ,and would like to strip it down and experiment with the magnetron and the transformer but I'm not an electrician or a electronic engineer .so I would probably end up being killed or blowing the house up so I just enjoy watching professionals do it on RU-vid !

Do you even understand how welding works? 😂 trying to stick weld aluminum lmao

I cry, if I see how you kill coils.

Nice tinkering and everything, but you do realise you cant stick weld aluminium dont you?

You first attempt with the 70mm^2 wire might have worked as a spot welder. MMA welding uses about 40 Volts. It is also possible that a thin oxide layer on the aluminium may have increased the resistance enough to severely limit the current.

Although welding machines have such a high variability in power ratings, the voltage required for most is 20--30 volts...some processes are AC 0r DC, and some machines offer both. The variance however, comes in the amperes that can be delivered....the higher the amps, the thicker capacity of metal that can be joined. Additionally, there are processes that require a power supply capable of providing constant voltage or constant current. There are so many people with the youtube mentality that if it is broadcasted it must be ok to do; dismantling a microwave is not among the things that most you tubers could do safely....as mentioned in the concerns below.

Is 2019 any upgrade avalible :) ?

pretty sure you saw grant thompson's video before making this it seems you improved on it though

combine the 2 transformers together then they will work trust me connect them in series

thanks for trying something so off beat. and thanks for being honest in showing something that didnt work.

My favorite channel right here

Three car batteries in series will work as a great welder

5:42 Love this part coin hitting up,toss a coin to your Witcher

How is it hacked if you didn't get the result you wanted? I really hoped for a result that worked.

Damn I don’t know a lot about this but the things he do is super dangerous, but he really knows what hes doing.

As others have point out, aluminium is tough to weld. One of the reasons is that it conducts heat mad well, so it takes a lot of power to get it hot enough to weld.

Türkçe altyazı ekleyen Adam gibi Adama selamlar.

@GreatScott, are you from germany?🇩🇪

What kind of rotary tool did you use?

Welding 1/8“ aluminum plate often requires 90-140 amps, depending on the type of welding used and the overall size of the part being welded. 1/4“ aluminum can take up to 250 amps or more to weld. This is because aluminum conducts and dissipates heat very quickly, so it takes enormous amounts of heat just to heat aluminum up to it’s melting point. Secondly, high amperage current doesn’t like to arc up, so a high voltage current may be needed to strike an arc. With stick welding, you „strike“ an arc just like striking a match. Thirdly, molten metal will oxidize (burn) if exposed to oxygen while welding, so you either need a shielding gas such as argon or helium to displace all oxygen from the weld area, or special flux-coated electrodes (the flux burns and produces carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which shield the weld from the oxygen in the atmosphere). That being said, I have seen videos of people welding things with microwave transformers, so it can definitely be done. Small briefcase-sized welding machines can be found for a couple hundred dollars though, so it might be better to spend the extra money on a proper welding machine.

Ya Türkçe altyazıyı kim ekledi çok iyi olmuş 😂😂

Ismt tis incredibly dangerous?

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I'm actually really disappointed about how many comments there are from people who don't know what electromagnetic induction is and don't know how transformers work...come on, that's basic middle school science!

Aluminum is usually welded in an oxygen free atmosphere as in heli-arc using helium gas. In a tig machine the gas is fed to the arc along with the welding rod. High current is more important than high voltage as the current determines the amount of heat that can be produced at the working area. You don't need to draw four inch sparks, nor should you want to, but you do want to heat the metal you are working on so that it melts together with the rod at the joint. I'm only a very novice welder, please correct any errors.

Aluminum is a bitch to weld. As a professional welder and blacksmith, I can tell you the normal procedure would be a TIG welder put on AC. It gives you a pulsating weld current that makes it possible to weld Aluminium or Aluminum as they call it in the US. The problem with this material is it creates an oxide layer which is hard to penetrate and make a decent welding on. Btw..your TIG electrode will be the flattened first time you light up the arc ( it's just the way AC welding works). If you want to weld this material oxygen/acetylene welding would be another way to do it, but that requires some skills.

the "Grant Thompson King of random" alredy show how to make a stick welder, a spot welder and this one i done on the first try! só i recomend you to go to his Channel and see how he do it!

.me kills video this and welder a I’m

Or you could... you know.. Buy a fucking weld tool and helmet? 😂 cool idea though bro

1. You can't stick weld with an open-circuit voltage of 1.7V. It just ain't gonna happen. 2. Your "special aluminum electrode" seems to be either filler wire for TIG welding or aluminum brazing rod. Aluminum stick welding electrodes have a flux coating on them, which dissolves off the surface oxide from the base metal and produces shielding gas to keep the oxide from re-forming. 3. Stick welding with AC power requires the flux to contain a good arc stabilizer to maintain the arc when the voltage momentarily passes zero. So not even all stick welding electrodes will tolerate AC.

amazing work - for aluminum people emit argon (and I think some use nitrogen) gas on the weld area because otherwise aluminum oxidizes very quickly before a clean weld can form.

I haven't seen a microwave so clean inside before. I want to meet one.

Transformers create a ratio, which will be insufficient until you parallel a phase. Or in layman's terms, use the output of one transformer to feed another transformer (making it primary feeding secondary) it's output will increase voltage allowing weld output.

Most arc welding starts out at 20v and 50a minimum, the aluminum electrode wasn't really a welding electrode but a filler rod for tig welding, an arc welding electrode needs a flux coating

Two years later, I dare giving my 2 cents: Aluminium oxidize so fast in 20% concentration that it is impossible to do. If you apply enough heat to melt it, then it burns violently, like clearly seen with thermite. Using an oxygen concentrator, I was able to burn aluminium cans... But only by moving the source of oxygen constantly. When a bright and hot part of the can start burning, the aluminium oxide layers blocks further burning. Argon is the friend of aluminium welders. Helium is too light and cold.

Lol! Dude you know darn well there are easier ways to make an arc welder. You just wanted to play with that microwave transformer. Love your videos.

Dear Greatscott, Thank you very much for giving us Directions for our DIY projects through your experiments .. I thought simply we can make a welder with a microwave transformer as per lot of peoples tutorials. Thank you for Directing.

Welding aluminum is hard af due to the low melting temp. Also you're a mad man and please tell me you had a welding mask.

Just a disclaimer….if you try and take apart a microwave make sure you discharge the capacitor. Use needle nose pliers with a rubber handle or something like that.

I think that one reason your weld was unsuccessful is because you didn't rectify the input voltage, AC doesn't penetrate nearly as much as DC especially at those low voltages. What it does is basically swap the polarity, and the direction the current is trying to weld, 50 or 60 times a second. This gives little to no penetration. Also aluminum is in itself hard to weld so you had that stacked against you from the get go.

You are educational and entertaining!!! Posting your failures is very educational because now I know what NOT to do.

220/240 volt input and a high output dial & you would have success. Important to note that the transformer needs a solenoid attached between the dial and transformer using your earth ground for duty cycle which will be low without using the capacitors.

There are so many problems with this video (I know it was made 2 years ago, this is so nobody else repeats these mistakes) 1) Don't scrap that PCB, it's great for smoothing out AC waves 2) Aside from the cancer risk from disassembling the magnetron (because the ceramic is somewhat delicate), it's *FAR* more useful left intact 3) You would've been far better off removing the weld on the transformer core and carefully pulling out the secondary coil if you wanted to switch back to high voltage (which you *need* for arc welding) 4) You need an arc carrying about 3 amps to weld aluminum, stick welding isn't a great idea since you're more likely to just burn through it

In New Zealand most arc welders come in at about 48volts, just under the 50v max for ELV (extra low voltage) as a safety requirement.

This might be a late comment. But alluminum cannot be weld with dc. You will need to create a small change in current direction in a specific frequency. That will undo the oxide layer of the alluminum and allow material tô deposit. It would be an interesting diy project!

remove the copper secondary by cutting it, as you do, but then you can put whole transformer in a vice to support the steel case, not restricting copper - and bash it through with a square piece of wood nudging each side through - then the lot slides out like stiff butter in one piece :)

I'm a bit late to the punch, but you can wire two car batteries in series. Use that trick on the trails to weld broken axles. Works pretty darn good

how to die a quick, horrible, high amperage death: an online tutorial

I love welding aluminum, stick aluminum is a lot of fun but i dont do it nearly as often as tig and its been a while. I suggest higher silicon electrodes because it will be easier to weld with, maybe 4043. also, for tig you would need around 180 amps for a good weld there but I don't remember with stick, I think it's around half that. If it is helpful to you, I can mess around with the welder later and find the best amperage. Let me know

You cannot weld aluminum without a shielding gas. Aluminum is too reactive and forms what is essentially non conductive sand with oxygen in the air. You CAN braze it using a propane torch and field's metal which is a low melting point brazing allow that will alloy/wet to aluminum.

Why are some people saying things about how dangerous magnetrons are, when this video isn't even using a magnetron? Before anyone else states how dangerous magnetrons ceramics are, this guy is only using the transformer. Not the magnetron.