According to mj :
Don,

I would have built the
footswitch box pretty much as he did -- but I would have run a power
cord directly into it, and put an AC outlet controlled by the switch in
the box. Then, it could be used to switch pretty much anything which
needed a footswitch, and the switch would not need to be a particularly
high-current one, either. *Certainly* -- don't use the phone plugs to
switch power line voltages.


This is almost scary. I was actually thinking of building my setup like
this. In fact, my footswitch is already wired like this. It basically
is a sewing machine switch.

Hmm ... I suspect that sewing machine switches vary. Mine, one
for a very old Singer 221B, is more than a switch. It is a stack of
carbon resistance elements, so you can control the speed with your foot
pressure.

If it is nothing but a switch -- wire it in series with the
primary of the transformer.

I'm still thinking about the microwave
transformer yet. I work at a maintenance facility and we have an
electronics section. I am going to talk to those guys next week and see
if any of them are comfortable pulling the transformer out of a
microwave and making sure the thing is DEAD and then I'll worry about
rewinding the thing.

The transformer, standing alone, with no power connected to it
is not dangerous. It is only when power is fed into the primary and the
original secondary is still present that it requires serious caution.

Note that the capacitor after the rectifier is a different
matter, as it can store high voltage charge for quite a while. But I
would expect a bleeder resistor to be a part of the construction, so
after a minute or so with no power it would be safe.

Good Luck,
DoN.

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