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Comment by Gigachad | Hacker News Reader

Just the other day youtube suggested me this cutsie "what to do with old microwaves" video that just had the corporate jingle music over a video of a guy building various things out of microwave transformers without any kind of narration or warning of the danger.

Considering people are actually dying trying these microwave tricks, this is no longer a theoretical concern.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2UfglFeOH8 (much later the author added a warning saying this is for entertainment only)

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"For entertainment only" is such a cop-out, do whatever dangerous thing and show step by step instructions but then slap on a "for entertainment only" on it so you're safe from legal repecussions.

> you're safe from legal repecussions.

Not necessarily: no way to tell whether it's sufficient until it actually goes before a court.

Excellent point. As a matter of legal principle in the United States you can't unilaterally disclaim liability for future injuries. Signs that say "not responsible for accidents on these premises" don't hold up when you run a retail store where people are expected to freely to come and go as they please.

More concretely: a perfectly reasonable judge could decide a dangerous step-by-step how-to guide negates the prior "for entertainment purposes only" warning. There's a reason Jackass frequently had skull-and-crossbone warnings and didn't show much of their set up, just the results

I was being sarcastic with that, should have written it as: you're "safe" from legal repercussions.

Fair enough :)

these are with a low voltage high current winding, instead of the standard 2000v winding, though, which is much safer. The danger of the unmodified microwave transformer isn't really so much that it has exposed mains voltage (although obviously you should be careful around that, too), but that it has 2000v+ and it's galvanically isolated, meaning no GFCI/RCD will save you (and obviously the 2000v will also do a much quicker job at passing lethal current through your heart/other organs)

Comparatively, a spot welder is "just" as dangerous as any other mains-based experiment. Not safe, but you have a pretty good shot at surviving, even if you get zapped.

I'm getting flashbacks of UnderDunn's home made battery spot welder built with a microwave transformer.

It's a really common project for them. Certainly a better option than a jacobs ladder or fractal wood burning, since you have to just take the usual mains voltage precautions, and not worry about arcs and other high voltage schenanigans

the dryness of the top comment is perfect

> Remember, if you've got lathes and welders and assorted tools and materials, don't throw out an old microwave because you can use part of it to make a wire hot.

exactly! Plus, they do throw out 98% of the microwave... just to save a clump of iron which is one of the more easily recycled materials. Admittedly, it's in layers with resin between, but I'm sure that resin will cook right off in the massive slag crucibles.

Child me figured out how to make a wire hot with a 9v battery. Why fuck with a HV transformer.

These videos are produced in giant production houses in China. That’s why there’s no voiceovers. They’re designed to be distributed in every language.

Salad is pretty dangerous and I don't see anyone putting disclaimers on cooking shows.

Contact with live microwave oven transform secondaries has about a 70% fatality rate, if we believe bigclivedotcom. Eating salad has about an 0.001% fatality rate.

Actually I think I have overestimated the salad fatality rate here by orders of magnitude. If one out of every hundred thousand salads killed the eater then many, if not most, people who eat salad regularly would die of food poisoning or choking on salads rather than (as they in fact do) of heart disease, cancer, and infections.

Care to elaborate? I've been eating salad my whole life and I'm just fine. But then again, I also cook eggs with runny yolk, so I guess I'm just a renegade in the eyes of the food safety folks.

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic, or if you actually live in a country with poor safety standards on produce and it is a risk for food-borne diseases to eat uncooked food.

I'm clowning on safety culture. It is not very dangerous to disassemble a microwave. Many people have died from eating salad, because fresh greens arrive liberally coated in goat shit. Also, you do not need to cook pork to 160°, that is an abomination.

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