microwave oven foundry

posted Jan 24th 2005 1:33am by Jason Striegel
filed under: misc hacks

microwave oven + metal = fun

our pal barb dybwad from the unofficial apple weblog sent us this link. david reid discusses a cheap and easy method for melting and casting metals in a common microwave. apparently, this method requires only very minor modifications to the oven and is able to reach temperatures of around 1000 degrees celcius, thereby melting small amounts of cast iron. i find this amazing since i still can’t figure out how to thaw the center of a frozen burrito of similar external temperature. it looks like there is still some hacking to be done to find a process capable of melting steel, so i’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

when you are done making pewter army men, you may also want to check out the detailed photos of barb’s new mac mini. lucky!

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Comments [22]

Reader Comments

yeah.. why not just burn your house down?

Posted at 3:45 am on Jan 24th, 2005 by asul

I want to try this; but outdoors and on the end of a 100′ extension cord. “Distance is you your friend when it comes to radiation,” said Dr. Tim (a radiologist). Not to mention the possibility of (really) hot shrapnel…

Posted at 8:25 am on Jan 24th, 2005 by steve Worcester

this sounds like a bad idea all around – no room for “ooops” or “d’oh”.

Posted at 11:43 am on Jan 24th, 2005 by israel torres

I’ve read an article on this before – it was a couple years ago, perhaps in Popular Science (or some such mag). There’s an obvious safety concern, but from what I’ve seen it may not be as bad as you might think. Regardless… be careful.

Posted at 2:23 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by g

I can seriously imagine frying my brins on the hack…

Posted at 3:12 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by friedbrains

I still prefer the good ol’ grape in the microwave. This hack should prove useful to those sorry enough to lack a furnace in their houses.

Posted at 3:56 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by Jon Frazier

If you notice, you have to get some powerful ceramic insulators and insulate the cast from the microwave.
If you’re scared of radiation from a microwave, don’t even attempt this…

Posted at 7:03 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by Dax

Many people exagerate the dangers of Microwave. It is not like the typical “radiation” you hear of (meaning nuclear radiation.) Microwave is different. Number one, microwave is sent directionally from the microwave gun. As in, it will only affect where you’re pointing it.
Two, microwave can be stopped with a metal grid (such as chicken wire), otherwise known as a Faraday shield.
Third, microwave does not leave any radioactivity behind. The only damage from microwave is internal burning, you can’t get radiation poisoning from it or anything like that.
Now don’t all go and do this, but you could probably remove the safety feature on your home microwave, open the door while it is running, and not be in danger.
So really, you can easily make room for an “oops” or “doh”. Test it with a cheap piece of chicken wire leaning against the microwave facing you. That would protect you from any of that. As for burning, just don’t be stupid, don’t put flammable things in this device.

It’s really not that bad.

P.S., to the editor: this no-caps bullshit has got to go.

Posted at 7:04 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by micah buckley-Farlee

theres someone, somewhere, that will get a darwin award trying this.

be careful, and post linx if you do it successfully.

Posted at 7:58 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by Ryan

^if we do the hack successfully or if we get a darwin award?

if i die in the line of duty then i’ll have someone post a link

Posted at 8:23 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by Captsnuffy

10th comment who ho
FREE IPODS SPAM SPAM SPAM
anyway we man had a page on fun micro wave hacks
http://margo.student.utwente.nl/el/microwave/
it is okay very 93 esc i have treid some of them but the cd one makes the whole damned building smell like ass anyway you need more “hacks” involving things that are functional melting metal umm, well i don’t really ever do that and those who do usualy have other means of conveying….all in all still a cool hack

Posted at 10:52 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by steve-o

As someone with years of blacksmithing experience, I can tell you that it must get hotter than 1000 degrees, although I think copper would be doable at that temperature. Iron (mild steel really, wrought iron is hard to find these days) isn’t even workable until you get to near 2000 degrees, and it won’t melt until above 2500.
And if you’re wondering how I ever hit this site, I play with things from the coal forge as well as sourceforge. After all, blacksmiths might just be the original hackers.

Posted at 10:55 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by Exluddite

I just realized he meant celcius…damn! I might have to try this one. Definately a job for goodwill though. I’m not doing this trick in the microwave over the stove.

Posted at 11:02 pm on Jan 24th, 2005 by Exluddite

Wouldn’t Scientists/Philosophizers be the orginal hackers, hacking the truth into the ignorant? Or chemists/alchemists be the orginal hackers, hacking chemical states and compositions, like lead into gold? Or Steve Jobs (Phreaker) and the MITer’s (Like Limor and her Minty Mp3 <3) who coined the word be the original hackers?

If anything, blacksmiths are just a bunch of script kiddies who make even more scripts for the true Hackers, Guys who like to hack and slash….

Anyways, on with the alchemistic formulas:
Aluminum: Melting point [/K]: 933.47 [or 660.32

Posted at 3:30 am on Jan 25th, 2005 by CDE

script kiddies use whatever they scavenge to cobble things together . .If a blacksmith doesn’t have a tool for something, he makes the tool from the raw material.that’s assembly.
Oh and the first bicycle (arguably, there were “velocipeds” made before, but this one had pedals) was made by a blacksmith.
With no arc welder. And no oxyacetylene torch.
That’s a hacker.

Posted at 10:46 am on Jan 25th, 2005 by Exluddite

I wonder if this is hot enough to melt NaCl, sodium chloride (table salt)? If it is, the NaCl could be melted, and the resulting liquid could be electrolysized to create sodium and chlorine, and sodium, when in contact for water, is super explosive. Cool.

Posted at 8:53 pm on Jan 25th, 2005 by Danny d

What if the tool the blacksmith needs to make requires using said tool in its construction O_o? HUh?

Munch on that….

Posted at 1:20 am on Jan 26th, 2005 by CDE

MMMM, challenge-y

Can God heat a burrito so hot that he himself cannot eat it?

Posted at 11:04 am on Jan 26th, 2005 by strider_mt2k

Yes he can. God is a spirit with x amount of power. Jesus is human. God cooks burritos that Jesus cant eat…. all for your sins

Posted at 2:27 pm on Jan 26th, 2005 by CDE

Interesting. Direct resistance heating of the crucible might be more practical. A carbon stucko liner with wires connected on opposite sides connected to an AC plug. Check resistance before plugging in.

Posted at 4:52 pm on Apr 13th, 2005 by Peter H

whats to prevent someone from creating a weapon from the parts of a microwave? Shouldn’t you be able to use the magnetron and some basic sheetmetal skills and create a directional microwave beam? Given the power of some microwave ovens, this should create a weapon that is effective to several meters.

No?

Posted at 12:41 pm on May 27th, 2005 by billy

Sunglasses, Ray Ban Sunglasses, designer sunglasses, replica sunglasses

Posted at 8:06 pm on Jun 3rd, 2005 by liu