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I am rather the absent minded sort of guy. To put it another way my memory stinks so if I get distracted from a project where I might have a hot soldering iron smoldering away, I could completely forget it and later burn myself. This has been a big problem until I had this thought. Microwaves have to handle a lot of power. To do that they need some pretty beefy switches. In other words they are digitally controlled relays. In this Instructable we explore the possibility of repurposing one.
If your not completely comfortable with working around electricity, DO NOT make one of these. Under no circumstances should you operate one of these without building a case of some sort. I would recommend a metal project box. That way you can ground it which makes the thing a whole lot safer to use. Without a metal enclosure of some sort you could get a nasty shock. Trust me those aren't fun at all. Avoid those at all costs. Below is a picture of the one I use to control my coffee pot. As you can see it's encased in an old aluminum project box I had. I know it's not pretty but then the best things in life often aren't.
In a side note: be sure to read through the whole project before you start working. You can always go back later for reference.
If your not completely comfortable with working around electricity, DO NOT make one of these. Under no circumstances should you operate one of these without building a case of some sort. I would recommend a metal project box. That way you can ground it which makes the thing a whole lot safer to use. Without a metal enclosure of some sort you could get a nasty shock. Trust me those aren't fun at all. Avoid those at all costs. Below is a picture of the one I use to control my coffee pot. As you can see it's encased in an old aluminum project box I had. I know it's not pretty but then the best things in life often aren't.
In a side note: be sure to read through the whole project before you start working. You can always go back later for reference.
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Signing UpStep 1Parts for this project...
The first one is obvious. You need an old microwave. Preferably one that's being thrown out because it's stopped cooking like it should. One from a yard sale or the local thrift store will work. Why use a second hand device you ask? Well first of all it will be much less expensive. Second, it keeps part of it out of a land fill. Lot's of people don't recycle those and it's a crying shame. There are a lot of useful parts in them. All kind of things like microswitches, screws and other hardware, and let's not forget the emitter it's self. Then there's that huge step-up transformer. There's a chance that the emitter or the transformer are damaged in most cases. The switching device is usually still workable. That's just what it is too. A programmable switch.
The tools you'll need are as follows:
1. A Soldering iron and solder
2. Wire cutter/stripper
3. Various screw drivers (depending on what they put it together with. It varies between makes and models.
4. A Dremel or some other means of cutting metal and plastic.
5. A drill or you could just use a drill bit in the Dremel
6. Safety glasses (You won't be able to do this if you can't see because something got in your eye. It happens, just trust me and use a pair.)
7. A multimeter (preferably digital because their more accurate.)
8. A power cord (the heavier, the better.)
9. Some outlets and boxes (I used panel mount outlets that I got from Home Depot)
10. A hot glue gun (This is optional depending on how you plan to build it)
11. Electrical tape
The tools you'll need are as follows:
1. A Soldering iron and solder
2. Wire cutter/stripper
3. Various screw drivers (depending on what they put it together with. It varies between makes and models.
4. A Dremel or some other means of cutting metal and plastic.
5. A drill or you could just use a drill bit in the Dremel
6. Safety glasses (You won't be able to do this if you can't see because something got in your eye. It happens, just trust me and use a pair.)
7. A multimeter (preferably digital because their more accurate.)
8. A power cord (the heavier, the better.)
9. Some outlets and boxes (I used panel mount outlets that I got from Home Depot)
10. A hot glue gun (This is optional depending on how you plan to build it)
11. Electrical tape
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My coffee maker heats and runs water into the filter too fast and if not watched up to 50% of the water can just run down the over-flow into the pot having never seen any coffee.
A microwave control panel is the ideal solution. Put it on low/medium and set it for 1/2 hour and it should take four or five "sessions" to move all the water through allowing enough drip time and ensuring that I have my high-caffeine product!
But in reply to Okie...
I really must advocate buying a temperature-controlled soldering station. It simply cannot be bought or created at home. For many, many reasons, but the best one is that this one has a 99-minute timer that will turn itself off when it hasen't been in use. How does it know? It monitors the temperature, and if it sees that the temp remains the same (and dosen't have to boost the heat signifigantly, like soldering would cause) then it shuts off.
http://www.action-electronics.com/wewes51.htm
That is NOT the cheapest, but that is the first result on google. HOWEVER, it is worth that price, but you can get them for $75 if you look hard enough. Oh, don't think that it is worth that much for something that just gets hot and melts some metal? Trust me. I spent years, and years working with very bad irons--and making mediocre joints, which would eventually fail, trying every technique that every book on soldering had to offer... only to find out that had I bought a good tool in the beginning I would have saved myself countless headaches.
Don't buy cheap tools. False Economy. Yadda yadda yadda...