I've just modified this Microwave Oven Transformer into a dangerous little device. 800 amps of
electrical current is about to be bad news for anything made of metal.
Today I'm in the mood to melt some metal. This Microwave Oven Transformer used to be
a dangerously high-voltage device, but I modified it so the voltage is extremely low, and it's
the amps now that are insanely high. High enough that when the electrodes touch this
screw, it melts into a little ball of steel. This time I've hooked it up to a machine screw
for melting, and when it heats up it changes color and the outer layer bursts into flames.
If I hold the electrodes in constant contact, you can see molten metal flowing down the
screw, and within seconds it's completely gone. I just love the way these light up and
flash, throwing off sparks as they melt. This bolt is longer so it's taking more time to
melt. You can see an array of color changes as the metal heats up to the point where it
begins to glow a burning bright orange. Back on my workbench, you can see the input voltage
to the primary coil is about 120 volts AC, which is typical mains power in my area. And
with this modified secondary, you can see I've stepped the potential down to only 3
volts. The voltage is so low that I can actually touch the live wires with bare hands, and
not feel anything. Even though the power being generated is enough to completely incinerate
this wood screw on contact. This much power has the potential to kill you, so don't ever
try this yourself. Now here's a 5/16" bolt I'm trying to melt, and it's building up so
much heat that my 4 gauge electrode wires are smoking. As it's cooling, I'll try a little
amateur blacksmithing while I have the chance, because this got so hot, I just melted my
melter. 4 gauge wires just aren't enough to handle the extreme current pumping through
these wires. That's ok though because the primary coil is still good, so I'll just rip
off the secondary so I can use the rest of this in another project, like making a makeshift
stick welder. Look for that in a future video. In the meantime, I still have this other MOT
that was salvaged from a microwave in a previous project, and after making the proper modifications,
I've got a new metal melter sporting this thicker 2 gauge wire. To fire it up, I'll
attach input wires to the primary coil, plug those into a power bar, and flip on the switch.
You can see the low voltage sparks off the terminals, and I'm measuring their potential
at just over 2 volts. Once again, for your entertainment, I'm holding the leads bare
handed, and you can clearly see there's power to the system because of the electrical arcing.
There's also a visible amount of current pumping through this screw. The thicker wire should
be able to handle higher temperatures than the first, so I'm gonna experiment on various
items around the house, like this iron nail. And a drywall screw. How about some lead solder.
Or a zinc washer. And various other objects made of metal. One friend suggested I try
melting a padlock and that seemed like a fun idea. It's at full power and the steel retaining
clip is getting extremely hot, but the metal isn't melting. Something inside the casing
just caught fire though, and although the retaining clip isn't melting, the lock is
so hot that the clip just fell open. Along with the rest of it. I'll try a couple of
amateur spot welds on some stainless steel, and i'm impressed at how much effort it takes
to get them to break. When experimenting with an aluminum can, the electrodes cut through
the metal like butter, but this thicker aluminum disc won't glow at all. I'm not sure how hot
it is but when I drip water on it, the water is instantly boiled and vaporized. I did get
this steel coin pretty hot, and if it will do that, i'm wondering what it will do to
steel wool. Amazingly, nothing happens unless the electrodes are so close they're almost
touching. Aluminum foil isn't very exciting either, but I've managed to reduce this sheet
down to a little blob of metal. I've got some Neodymium magnets ready, but the voltage is
too low to get through all eight. However, if tap onto two, it seems to be working really
well. They're getting so hot they've gone totally incandescent, and apparently have
just been liquified. These are among the worlds strongest magnets, but after exposure to temperatures
over 300ºC, they lose most of their magnetic properties. Here's a large steel nut that's
harder to heat, but in the end it glows very nicely as well. This one's just got so hot
that it's exploding liquid metal. As expected, I got no visible reactions from a 250 volt
lightbulb, or this audio transformer. But I did have a lot of fun melting down the tines
on this fork. This brings back memories of curling plastic forks over the fire as a kid.
It's not very useful anymore, but it looks pretty neat. I'm applying a current to the
underside of this knife and can visibly see the point of contact. The whole blade is glowing
and this is looking really cool. At this point, the blade is really easy to bend. For my last
trick, I got a circuit board with some high temperature solder that my desoldering iron
wouldn't melt. But hooking a couple of nails to the electrodes gives me the ability to
instantly liquify the solder on these contact points.. Well we cheated death again and destroyed
a lot of metal doing it. If you like these videos, you can support me by becoming a subscriber
and sharing with your friends. I appreciate your support. Thanks for watching.