How to: Resonant Microwave Oven Transformer High Voltage Supply.

Okay first of all i feel i should give a little disclaimer. Microwave oven transformers are indeed LETHAL the current and voltage that they put out is more then enough to kill you, the voltage and current they run off will quite happily kill YOU! Microwave oven capacitors Hold a strong charge for quite some time, do not attempt to alter anything or do anything at all without discharging all capacitors! This is serious stuff, but its also fun stuff so lets keep it safe and keep is fun. we want to be alive, not just live. Okay? good...

Now Microwave oven transformers which i will refer to from here on in as MOT's have been a keystone for beginners and advanced high voltage hobbyists alike for as long as I personally can remember. And as fun and as simple as these deadly but wonderfully robust transformers are, it is possible to get more technical into them. In future instructables that I shall be making I shall cover such things as MOT welders, High current for HHO production, MOT PSU's capable of a kilowatt of power. In this instructable however i shall detail the steps behind making measly MOT arcs into HUGE arcs utilising the magic of resonance (not real magic) And then furthering that with a little thing call power factor correction which i will refer to as PFC and ballasting which i will refer to as.. ballasting. 

FOR MORE CONTINUE TO STEP (1)

VIDEOS ON THE LAST STEP OF LONG RESONANT ARCS AND SHORTER STABLE ARCS USING POWER FACTOR CORRECTION AND BALLASTING!

Also as this is my first instructable constructive criticism and feedback is most certainly welcome. please no negativity :)

Step 1 Obtaining the parts!

 Alrighty then! For the Ultimate MOT powered arcing set-up you will first need to components to put it together. and a mind dead set on safety! for without one of those, you will wind up dead set on the floor!

Now then, I shall list the components...  now:

1) You will need two or three MOT's, Three is better as you can use one as ballast.

2) An appliance that you may use as ballasting for your transformers. A hair dryer or a toaster works anything like that, this is only if you can only find two MOT's

3) 4 Microwave oven capacitors which i shall refer to as MOC's (These are the key in the resonant side of things)

4) A motor start capacitor or something of similiar value. to use as a PFC capacitor, for >230 Volts use about 20uf and above 300 Volts. and for the 120 Volt people use 80uf rated for >200 Volts. Must be AC type capacitors!

5) A 10-15 amp Circuit Breaker ( For Safety)

6) A 120-240 Volt Rated switch

7) Lots of wire including a 3 pin grounded wall plug.

8) A 2 foot long (minimum) Piece of PVC or insulating electrical conduit ( To be used as a 'chicken stick' )

9) A Wooden Base for it to go on!

10) Dark sunglasses or a welders mask! Arcs are bright! and will damage your eyes!

11) most importantly, common sense!

Also as a heads up, the wire, the MOC's, the MOT's and the grounded plug can all be salvaged from a microwave. Be sure to strip it entirely, there's two strong magnets in the magnetron there's diodes to be used in a MOT Doubler, there's switches fuses resistors lots of wonderful stuff!

The picture below is my current arcing set-up. Not configured for drawing long resonant arcs but shorter stable arcs. I will add a video of this soon. two of the MOT's are for ballast.

Comments

[aloving95]

What is the Purpose of the PFC capacitor? whould it still work if i didn't use one?

[aclark17]

Im not sure about step 4, connect the "ground end" of the two MOTs? Do you mean to say that HV out of one goes to base, then either base or HV out of 2nd hooks up to the HV out of the ballast, and you draw arcs from the wire connected to the base of the ballast? Is that correct?

[aclark17]

I got it, no problem! It works fantastically, and Ive been having great fun seeing which types of metals make which colors, though its difficult to see sometimes because of the need for eye protection. So far as I can tell, copper is green, titanium is either a bright white or a blue, aluminum.... yellow I think. Anyways, great instructable!!! Thanks so much!

[eXtremeSomething]

Now connect it back up to a magnetron in a microwave, "DINNERS READY"

[qola]

and then what kind of aplications would you use it to, burning air, cooking foot, making bbq, xD any other Suggestions ??? let me know :-D

[Jimmy Proton]

I thought you weren't supposed to continuously run start capacitors, I have one that I found in the junkyard and have nothing to do with it so I'll use it for this.

[HazzWold1993]

Nah, they aren't made for pulse discharge, but they handle the mains continuous cycle fairly well.

[Pyrocloud]

Any idea if this would make a suitable powersupply for a tesla coil?

[HazzWold1993]

it would work yes, the spark gap would be a bit finicky though with such a low voltage 2-4kv....

[Pyrocloud]

ah cool, so in theory it should work better if i made a larger stack for a higher voltage

[HazzWold1993]

Yes, you will find many people on the internet use a "Quad stack" for around 8Kv, but for the size, you would need to make a very large Tesla coil to make it worthwhile. And the quad stack would need ballasting, and to be under oil to prevent flash-over.

[Jimmy Proton]

is the PFC capacitor also a MOC?

[HazzWold1993]

3 MOCs in parallel make for good PFC

[HazzWold1993]

Yes

[TheDoci]

i dident have a good resunlt from this. may be that i only used 1 mot or 1 moc or that i basasted it on the primary. but when i dident use the moc it gave me 2X the output it used too, it melted my hotstik. :(. but i fixd it. it seams that resonating it on the primary sid is the way to go for me.

[Grooby]

Whats The output Voltage Like or is the current that is creating the huge arc?
And what could you use it for?

[HazzWold1993]

 The output voltage is 2000 Volts AC either side so a total 4000 volts AC.
The current is what makes the burning arcs, theres aprox 1-2 amperes of current. I currently have a 10 MOT stack which draws over 150 Amps from the line.

[Plasmana]

Hundred and fifty amps form the mains? That is a hell alot man, otherwise, great project. I am going to build one of those beast after I get my hands on one more microwave. :)

[HazzWold1993]

Awesome :)

[Bob_144]

Could this be modified to use as a basis for a plasma torch? And if so what would need to be done?

[HazzWold1993]

Plasma torch?
no idea, sorry..