12 Apr
2013
12 Apr
'13
12:28 p.m.
Finding that my current induction heater is a little underpowered and hard
to tune for my envisioned in-situ melting application, I am looking into
higher-power options for induction heating that fit within a similar budget
and will probably be moving to ridiculously high power audio amplifiers
produced for the truck sound system loudness competition market.
That will be somewhat complex and time-consuming because I must also make a
very high current 12V power supply to use one of those.
Meanwhile, I have decided to try making a resistive metal melter out of a
transformer from a microwave oven as in this
video<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pGN6pqkyY>yY>.
Small, simple, portable stick and spot welders that run off normal 110V
from the wall can be made in a similar manner, and I will probably also
make a power supply for the ultra high power audio amp I will eventually
use for the induction heating in roughly this way.
What can you do if you want to help me or make your own one of these you
may be thinking? Go pick up a microwave or three from the free section of
craigslist <http://sfbay.craigslist.org/zip/> or similar! I did this last
night and in about 20 minutes was able to extract all useful electronics
including the transformer with a screwdriver and a claw hammer. This
process also yields a high-voltage capacitor and magnetron. Each major part
can be sold on ebay for about $10-$30 so this can yield $30-$90 in cash per
microwave as well as useful transformers for these projects.