Home made wood burning tool. pyrography

starmac · December 23, 2017, 03:08:30 AM

Before long you guys are going to be getting some linemens gear, so you can climb up and hook directly to the big transmission lines.

That does make some cool designs.

Kbeitz · December 23, 2017, 06:27:18 AM

I could not sleep last night thinking about the transformer. From everything
I know about transformers I could not figure out how and why it was working.
Then I looked again. The bottom coil is the primary only. The top coil is the
secondary only with one lead welded to the frame of the transformer. The other
two wires that I'm supposed to cut off is actually a third coil in the middle. Now
I understand how it works. So this transformer would need to be isolated so the
frame does not get grounded. Guess I need to make a plastic box for it.I wonder
what the third coil was used for ?

Kbeitz · December 24, 2017, 01:25:41 PM

I'm not all that impressed with the microwave transformer.
I works... But it flares up real easy and it does not give
a good nice looking burn.

I got my smoke hood done and it works great.

The microwave setup.

AlaskaLes · December 24, 2017, 01:39:23 PM

After watching the video here with my wife, we wandered through youtube for another hour, just getting a good feel for the process.
Then I went and gutted an old microwave that had a dead LCD screen.
Screwed it to a 1x6 board through 3 rubber feet. Ran the power leads to the factory power cord and installed a 20A/120V "Momentary On" switch in one of these power leads.
Used an old set of jumper cables (well insulated 10ga wire) and connected one of these to the top coil and one to the base.

1st test last night on a scrap of kiln dried birch went well. I used a couple of 16p nails as contacts.
I need to grind the clamp teeth down so it grabs the nail more firmly, and I plan to cut the ends off of the board and screw them on as side walls around the transformer and screw an aluminum plate across the top with a hole to mount the switch. The end result will be a square box with wood base and sides, a metal top, and open ends=power in one end; leads out the other.
No way to touch the trans unless your dumb enough to stick your hand in there. The switch and machine is placed just past arms reach from the board being burned. Reach over "Right" and relocate the contacts; lean back "Left" to the switch to activate for several seconds; release switch and repeat.
The beauty of the Momentary on switch and having to let go of it to relocate the contacts, is that I am 100% safe from electrocution with this set up.
Once we get a little practice, I can see using this for accents on slabs, benches, turned bowls and a bunch of other stuff.
Should make some neat accents

AlaskaLes · December 24, 2017, 01:48:45 PM

Kbeitz,
I'm getting a whole lot less of the deep scoring and a good bit more of the fine little tracks with our MOT
(Microwave Oven Transformer). It was a pretty powerful Microwave, I think 1200W or 1500W...I'll have to check.

Right now it's giving about half of each type of burn.
I plan to try it with one of the leads on a piece of wet cotton rag as this looks to be a good method of creating finer webs.
Not much smoke yet, but if the water is too pooled up on the surface it does seem to want to flare up more.
Another nice thing about the Momentary On switch is that I can shut it down immediately when it flares up, thereby minimizing the deep trenches.

Got a box of parts from the teardown. One of my Aviation Electronics teachers told us about using a Magnetron to build a Radar Jammer using a tuned antenna. Can't recall the details...

AlaskaLes · December 24, 2017, 01:58:14 PM

Just checked the carcass and it says I've got 13A @120V...so we're running right at 1560W.
Not a weak Microwave. This one came out of a convenience store when the screen failed, and it got used for another 15years or so. One of those that will blow up a burrito in less than a minute... :D.