magnetron from microwaves

Dont know about silver, i always send mine with motors. Dont break the ends they are made od some nasty stuff.

I'm dubious about the magnetron silver... but there is often some silver mylar in the keypad. Keep it with the ones you get from keyboards till you have like 1000 sheets, then post it for sale.

If you haven't seen this post about using a hatchet on the transformer, you'll love it when you do see it.

This has been perhaps the single most helpful post on these forums (to me) that I've ever seen. I used this method not even an hour ago to bust one. Always check that it's not copper-coated aluminum before you do chop one, though. If it is, sell it as motor/transformer. Those Cu coated Al ones oughta be called Decepticons.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...html#post26798

Gill did a great post on GRF about the magnetrons and how they don't contain enough silver in the solder to warrant anything but #2 Cu.

The pink ceramic contains BeO which is not worth the penny's you collect in breaking it.

Beryllium oxide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eric

Originally Posted by etack

Gill did a great post on GRF about the magnetrons and how they don't contain enough silver in the solder to warrant anything but #2 Cu.

The pink ceramic contains BeO which is not worth the penny's you collect in breaking it.

Beryllium oxide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eric

Thanks Eric I'll add to what I posted over at GRF here, I chuck the copper part of the magnetron into the lathe then use the sawsall to cut the metal ends off with out harming the ceramic. The solder does not contain any silver, some of the very old magnetron's did have gold brazing but i have only found one in the many years i have been stripping these things apart.

never knew the was copper in those, what is the proper way to dispose of it after the copper has been removed?

In hazardous waist disposal dump. BeO doesn't leach out so you could just throw them in the trash. it's the breaking apart that is dangerous.

Eric

Originally Posted by gustavus

What are these made out of?

In the second pic, it looks like copper, and the above picture looks like cast iron or something?

Is that what they look like, after you remove the copper?

They are Cu. The dark stuff on the Is copper oxide this happens when they get hot. that's why they have the cooling fins.

Eric

Originally Posted by happyisthealero

Why so dangerous?

The toxic effects of beryllium are particularly evident among workers, who when exposed to beryllium fumes and dust, can also develop Chronic Beryllium Disease, or CBD. Recent studies indicate that CBD can develop after short exposures to beryllium and at low levels of exposure. CBD is a systemic disease affecting many parts of the body, but is best known for impairing the lungs. Many people with CBD become pulmonary invalids, dependent on oxygen 24 hours a day. There is no cure for CBD and drug treatments for the control of its symptoms have serious side effects. CBD can be fatal.

Beryllium is found in a variety of workplaces. Occupations which are at risk for beryllium disease include beryllium metal and alloy workers, scrap metal reclaiming, electronic industries (transistors, heat sinks, X-ray window), ceramic manufacturing, space and atomic engineering (rocket fuels, heat shields, weapons), laboratory workers, dental technicians, and ore extraction. Any process or work place where beryllium can become air borne, in the form of small particles or fume, presents a serious health hazard for workers.

| Beryllium Support Group

Originally Posted by happyisthealero

Now is that if I open the magnetron?

If you look at the pic the pink and white items is the beryllium, if you hit or crush it, it will turn to powder, that you don't want to breathe.
That's about all I know about it without reading up more on it.

Whenever I separate them I carefully wrap the beryllium up and wash my hands when I'm done, can never be too safe.

Theres 50 grams of Copper in each magnatron (I just love using that word. Mag-nah-tron)
>(actually, you are right, its 80gms, I got it mixed up with something else.)

I'd machine the weld off if I had a lathe to do it in.

>(theres a fine weld where the copper body & the stainless steel flange meet. Under the steel flange theres a second steel disc with a hole in it.
This disc is set into the end of the copper bobbin & the flange sits on the disc, they then weld the flange on, with a TIG welder, around the OUTSIDE of the metal disc.
Because they don't use filler metal for the weld, the weld is very small & easy to cut off using a lathe.

I will describe it again.
The end of the bobbin has a relief machined into it. That lets the metal disc sit INSIDE the end of the bobbin, the flange sits on that.
They then run a weld around the end of the bobbin, welding ONLY the copper metal thats around the outside of the steel disc - to the outer edge of the stainless steel flange.
Because of that, theres a thin ring of copper around the outside of the metal disc.

IF you use a lathe & a very small parting off blade, like 1mm wide, you can machine thru this thin copper end part of the bobbin & the metal disc & end part/flange/beryllium etc will fall off.
Your cut will be 1mm wide & 2mm deep, thats not a lot of metal to machine away. You will not loose much of your copper machining this way.

A few times I have ground the weld off but the soft copper picks up some of the stainless steel dross & puts it into the copper bobbin.
That makes it magnetic & its a pain to clean up.
Its also **** hard to hold the bobbin in a vise, coppers soft & it crushes easy like & I have to remove the bent bobbin & regrip it to finish off the grinding. (I'm using a bench vise & a 9 inch grinder.)
Holding it in a lathe & doing a small cut will not squash the copper bobbin out of shape.)

I just puttem in a box & one day when I do get a lathe, I'll machine them up & get the 8+Kg copper & sell it for NZ$56.

>( OK, I have been saving them up for ages, I have over 100. At 80gms each, thats 8Kg & 8Kg x $7.00/Kg = $56. Oh, Thats NZ$, not US$.)

Trust me on this one if the lathe worked better to machine the ends off this is how i would remove the ends, the sawzall works best with a 14 tpi blade.

I use the lathe chuck only because I have not set up a vice in the shop yet, any vise large enough to clamp the copper will do the job.

or you could improvise by cutting a V slot into a large block of wood, affixe the block onto a larger plank, to make the strap use a scrap piece of copper pipe flatten it out, fold it over a 1/4" bolt so it's now hinged on one end. Put a spacer under the 1/4 bolt at each end so that your hinge will move freely then use some large staples to secure the hinge bolt in place, drill a hole on the otherend of the flattened copper pipe.

Have someone weld a washer onto the end of another 1/4" bolt or heat and bend some ready rod into a eyelet on one end - this bolt will be secured to the front side of your bent copper by means of passing through that hole you previously drilled. Again you can use a large staple to secure the washer end on that front bolt.

Pre-form your flattened copper pipe to conform to the curvature of the magnetron copper give take it does not have to be perfect.

Place the magnetron into the V Block then tighten the the nut on the front bolt enough to secure the copper for cutting, the nice thing here is that most of the coppers are of similar size.

A couple of variations of this clamp come to mind and may even be simpler to build, take two peices of planking or 2 by 4, cut a V both top and bottom to mathc when closed, using a door hinge on one end will give you the movement you need then drill a hole clear through both planks the opposite end, on the top plank you maqy want tpo drill a couple of holes to give you an oblong hole which will allow the bolt some travel. Just use a large washer under the nut to save damaging the wood after repetitious use.

Or you could use two planks as above with out he hinged end, drill make the two V blocks as before then drill holes clean through both, what you'll have is a teeter totter until one side is tightened up, again you may need the oblong holes on the top board.

Those little coils inside the magnatron. What are they made of?

Thats probably where the "Theres silver & gold in a magnatron" came from. Its looks silvery & sometimes goldish compaired to the copper.

I think the little metal disc right inside the magnatron is Tungsten, maybe the same with the two metal rods. Thats not going to do a lot of good to the sawzall blade.....


The other way I ground the end parts off is using a bench grinder.
Held the magnatron at 45deg & spun it around slowly while grinding off only the weld & flange part.
Because stainless is hard & coppers soft & absorbs heat. The thing got really hot after grinding one end off. So I went thru & did only one end, then went thru again & did the other end.

Doing it this way left the metal disc still inside the end of the bobbin. So I had to go thru again & 'pop' the metal disc out with a metal rod (punch or screwdriver)