Wish the places I worked at did. Did a lot of grinding of beryllium copper at one place and EDMing(vaporizing it) at another, before they found out about the hazard.

YIKES!

The EDM I've run have been submerged. No chance of vaporized metals becoming airborne.

The company (I worked for), a Swiss Screw Machine facility made a lot of connector pins. Among those was a large set of pins made for the railroad. Don't remember which, but it was the one that ran between Connecticut and New York. These were beryllium copper connector pins, as big as sharpie markers. I'd grab a hand full and mic them for diameters. I'd choose one diameter and check a whole bunch. As each was checked I'd drop it on the desk. It would clink. Dropped one and it went CLUNK! OK, set that one aside and continued. I found another. And another. In my sample, the number of fall-out was greater than the acceptable limit but smaller than the rejectable limit. It was in the "Take a second sample" range. When I did I found a whole bunch more. Clearly a rejectable quantity. Before rejecting them I did every inspection at my disposal from being really critical with dimensions to Rockwell Hardness testing. I couldn't find any reason for the odd sound. So I rejected them because "They didn't sound right". I was nearly laughed out of the shop. My boss pressured me to sign off my reject, which I did. About six to eight months later the Federal Railroad Safety Bureau came in asking why their passenger rail cars were catching fire. When they investigated the pins they saw my reject. They questioned ME. So I told them the same story I just recounted. The Federal Agent said I should have never signed off on them. They're the wrong chemistry. They WERE beryllium copper but the ratios were off. Nothing more happened to me. But those who were laughing at me found themselves paying a very hefty fine for ignoring a legitimate issue I had raised.

A few months later we hired two temps and I trained them. Once trained there wasn't enough work for me to stay on. I was let go. I guess they couldn't take the embarrassment of me being right all along.

That's my "Beryllium" story, and I'm sticking to it.

 

The EDM I've run have been submerged. No chance of vaporized metals becoming airborne.

How did you deal with the 'bubbles' coming to the surface and breaking? Those bubbles that happen even when submerged cutting still contain the vaporized particles. But in the long run beryllium copper isn't that bad, in my opinion, it is used in many things that are close to being fragmented, vaporized and airborne, welding and cutting tips plus spot welding electrodes.

 

How did you deal with the 'bubbles' coming to the surface and breaking? Those bubbles that happen even when submerged cutting still contain the vaporized particles. But in the long run beryllium copper isn't that bad, in my opinion, it is used in many things that are close to being fragmented, vaporized and airborne, welding and cutting tips plus spot welding electrodes.

I know that beryllium copper alloy is not chemically bonded, but I wonder if the copper somehow protects (to an extent) from beryllium's noxious effects.

 

I know that beryllium copper alloy is not chemically bonded, but I wonder if the copper somehow protects (to an extent) from beryllium's noxious effects.

Don't know about that. But when OSHA found out we were burning the mold cores made from B/C they made us stop.

 

The most important thing to know about microwave ovens is that there are no user serviceable parts inside. The voltages are lethal and I know from personal experience that it can kill. A young woman at one of the factories I worked at was killed in an avoidable accident. Stay away from the electrical compartment of the oven!

WRONG!!! A microwave oven has a lot of user servicable parts inside! For starters there is at least one fuse that is simple and inexpensive to replace. The safety precaution is to unplug the oven prior to starting to open the case, and then to remember to not plug it back in until after the case is properly closed. In addition, the magnetron can be replaced. My brother-in-law, with a degree in chemistry, was able to replace the magnetron all by himself, and the oven works fine now. I have repaired hinges and replaced failed interlock switches on more than one such oven.
Of course it is also possible for a fool to open the case with the power connected and get zaPPED. That is part of natural selection. Notice that the very first step is to unplug the oven. Once unplugged the shock hazard is gone until it is plugged in again. There is still a very real sharp edge and sharp point hazard, but those are seldom fatal.
B

 

WRONG!!! A microwave oven has a lot of user servicable parts inside!

+1
I've fixed the crappy door interlock switch on more than one microwave oven

 

+1
I've fixed the crappy door interlock switch on more than one microwave oven

One of the very first things I did with my 3d printer was to replicate my microwave's broken hinge... worked like a charm.

And I never ever ever never service an appliance of any kind without first disconnecting it.

 

Hi,

I have read about people changing the diode in there.

I havent done any repairs yet, but i did replace the power cord to a microwave oven a long time back. The one from the new oven then was too short so i took the one off the old oven and installed it on the new oven so i had a longer cord again and did not need an extension cord to run it.

I have also defunked the 'beeper' that is inside these things. Many ovens i have come across now do not have a code to enter to STOP that dang beep beep beep when the food is done. So i open up the case, and either jam the beeper with a screw or toothpick or i just cut one lead. That shuts it up for good.

Of course i have taken many apart too for parts. I think i've done about 3 ovens in total now.

There is someone on another site that fixes them for a living. He has some insight as to what goes wrong. He says most of the repairs these days are for the inverter type ovens. That could be though because there are more on the market now.

 

In normal electrical use, the term inverter is in reference to either a power oscillator or a power stage driven by some variety of circuit that delivers an oscillating signal. So it is indeed a very broad description. For generator systems it normally describes a system that provides power to a regulated power oscillator circuit so that the output is a fairly low distortion sine wave with a regulated magnitude. For an "inverter" microwave oven it implies that the somewhat heavy power transformer is replaced with a much higher frequency transformer driven by some kind of oscillator circuit. This is done to reduce the cost of production, although it may allow more control over the power levels. For Inverter motor drives, the system usually provides both variable frequency and variable voltage so as to provide both controllable speed and torque. And there are also "Inverter" packages that convert some DC voltage to some approximation of AC line power. Within that description is a very broad range of products.