Paul with his 33 microwave ovens to turn into one or more arc welders
Microwave Ovens
I came home from work to be greeted by Paul, “Hey dad, do you want to see my latest project?” He showed me his purchase of 33 microwave ovens that he will turn into an arc welder. He said that he only needs two microwave oven transformers for the arc welder. Some designs use eight, and besides, “I can always make more than one.” Great, Paul with an arc welder in each hand!
$5 A Pallet
Paul said that he got the microwaves from Tech Cycle that advertised the microwave ovens on Craigslist for $5 a pallet. Here is what the ad said:
Tech Cycle
801-886-6050
1499 So 700 W
Salt Lake City, UT 84104
.
Here is a deal of a lifetime. If you need a microwave, now is the time to buy. We are a business trying to make some room in are [sic] warehouse. We have a pallet of microwaves for 5.00 but here is the catch. YOU MUST TAKE THE WHOLE PALLET. If interested call me or come by.
It appears that Tech Cycle may be connected with Executive Recycling who don’t seem too particular where their electronic waste ends up. The Salt Lake address (1499 S. 700 W.) on their former website is the same as Tech Cycle’s. Some of the microwaves came from Deseret Industries. Anyway, Paul is going to recycle these microwaves into welders. He’s really cookin’ now so standby for updates.
External Articles
Build a Microwave Transformer Homemade Stick/Arc Welder Learn from the experts.
I think you have room for another 5 or 6 microwaves in there at least
Whoa… that’s lots of microwaves!
Okay, how many microwaves does one need at home? One? Two? I would rather try to resell all these microwaves using ebay. I am sure one can get a better price.
man have you seen the prices of welders you aint going to get that much onno e bayyour better off making your own+ its funner that way
So are you done building the Arc Welder yet. We are all anxiously waiting to see if it works or blows up. Please post video and drawings.
Didn’t explain how many mots for the welder.
i have 10.
Different sizes. hope it works.
I’m going to be using four transformers. Different sizes should be ok.
It is an awful lot of micowaves for just one welder. It is a great way of useing up all of the old microwaves you find in yard sales.
I am pretty sure I wouldn’t do this, but I do respect those who do stuff like this. I can’t weld or make anything from spare parts, but I think that if I could that it’d be sweet to do this stuff.
well howd you find this page then i had to search for homemade welders i didnt know how to make one neither but nowive seen and ithink youll can to
Great pic. So much microwaves. How did you weld this much?
$5 that is incredible! I really wish I had the talent and know who to turn things into other things. I can just about turn my hand to wood, but engineering and electrical projects just blow me away! Look forward to seeing the arc welder when done
Wow… that looks like quite a project & a bit of a dangers one too.
How did this work out, was it a success?
Barry
It is not finished. Paul bought a used Jeep and has been working on that.
Very cool! I had no idea that you could make an arc welder from microwave parts. I’d like to see how well the finished item welds.
I think this is a bad idea my nephew just got killed making one and he is extremely intelligent when it comes to electrical stuff.
Bob
Hi
Yes you never know what voltage output you will get and some countries like Australia have a limit of 50 volts on the output side unless you are an electrician. Also everything is high voltage on the input side and you can get killed quite easily if you leave all the wires exposed when testing and accidentally touch one of them.
Finally if you connect them all incorrectly and the peaks of the a/c match the troughs of the next transformer you can get 0 volts output as all the transformers heat up cancelling each other out this takes about 15 to 25 seconds till your mind races trying to figure out why you have 0 voltage output and you have a cooked transformer. Yes it is quite dangerous. It is probably just as good idea to get a used arc welder. Also I received a near fatal shock as I hooked up one transformer to the next one and got a shock out of the second one from the high voltage side. Current went from high voltage side to low voltage side and then into the low voltage side of the second transformer and when you touch the high voltage side of the second transformer ZAP. the low voltage size was hooked up in parallel. YES ALMOST FATAL EXPERIENCE. And there was no direct wire connection. Then energy went through the transformer. I just bought a complete 120vac arc welder for $20.00. It was a dangerous waste of time! I do not recomend you to try to build one. There is a reason for the UL sticker. That means it won’t kill you!