repurposing nucleationator?

[rodekyll]

I've been gifted a microwave oven.  The one it's replacing is ~1988 vintage; the new one was probably made this century.  The old unit still works good, but the new one is of course sexier, more powerful, and lacks the -um- 'patina' and 'history' of it's predecessor.  So -- what clever uses for old running 1Kw nucleationators have you folks found?

[Triple Jim]

Keeping it as a spare for when the new one quits working.

[Kent in Upstate NY]

Use the microwave generator as a radar jammer.

[pikipiki]

With a few components from a radio receiver and the microwaving bit from the oven it is I believe possible to build a speed radar gun defeater.
It would almost certainly be illegal, could give you cancer and cataracts but still It's an interesting concept.
Clever or on for the Darwin awards? I'll let you decide.
 Extra points for figuring out how such as device works.

[pikipiki]

Arrgh Kent you beat me to it.

[Triple Jim]

I know you're not a dumb guy, but if you really decide to play with it, be aware that the magnetron's power supply puts out high voltage with enough current behind it to kill you pretty quickly.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Or as I saw in a movie on TV, Two villians  invaded a home and had tried to kill the home owner and his wife and child.  The home owner was a surgeon and after wife shot  one invader and the doctor rendered the other unconcious with chloriform he surgically cut the spinal cord to make the villian a quadraplegic.  He then modified his microwave oven so that it would work with the door open and placed the villian with his head in the oven.  He then turned it on and left the room.
 The movie ended with a dull pop sound from the kitchen.  An altogether satisfying ending for a brutal story.

[charlie b]

Just remember that the microwave oven was invented by radar people when they noticed birds dying after flying in front of the antenna.

So, very careful use of shielding is important, as is the shape of the horn if you want to use it for something different.  We have all kinds of safety rules when working with MW stuff in the labs.  For example, the target area must be configured so it does not reflect any energy where you don't want it.  Think of a kind of bullet trap.  And there is a LOT of stuff that will reflect the energy, like screws and bolts.

[rodekyll]

This is entirely theoretical.  I'm not planning to modify the microwave.  But if alternative, maybe industrial uses are made of it, then I might could justify keeping it around.

[RinkRat II]

 RK, with your skill and mechanical abilities I see no reason  not to build an Aurora Borealis Enhancer for your front yard. We'll be standing by for pictures. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?? 

     Paul B

[oldbike54]

RK, with your skill and mechanical abilities I see no reason  not to build an Aurora Borealis Enhancer for your front yard. We'll be standing by for pictures. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?? 

     Paul B

 This gets my vote 

  Dusty

[Triple Jim]

I worked for a company that used magnetrons to energize mercury based UV bulbs for industrial curing applications.  They were also used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry in various processes of silicon wafers.  So if you need ultra high intensity UV, I can point you in the right direction. 

Funny story:  We found that Teflon was the only plastic that can stand up to UV without degrading.  That's because it passes the light through and doesn't absorb it.  A salesman told me about a new plastic his company had made, that was excellent in UV.  I told him I had my doubts, and that the lamps we made put out hundreds of watts of light in the short wave UV spectrum.  He insisted, saying they had put it in a severe environmental chamber for weeks, and it came out like new.  He gave me some samples, which I put under one of the lamps in the life test room before I left work that day.  The next morning they were nothing but piles of grey ash.  After I told the sales guy about the test, I never heard from him again.

[V7Record]

Try this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuG1oNRQnyI
Brian

[AJ Huff]

Mount it on the back of your trike and tell people it's nuke powered.

-AJ

[rodekyll]

If I took the casing off it I could tell them it's the flux capacitor.

[Farmer Dan]

Add the laser from a DVD player and you might have a fun project.