Mini-microwave

[Pahaska]

I built the box for the void that held the old microwave. Good grade of 1/2" plywood and I'll paint it with paint matched to the edging of the drawers. It is held in place with 5 screws; four into the face frame and one into the plywood below. It will be easy to remove if ever I need to access items such as the water pump. I'm waiting for the drawer slides from Rockler. I had to modify the right rear to allow for the sink drain. There was interference of about 1/2" horizontally at the depth of the box I built. The drain doesn't extend into the box, it just fits into a cut I made into the top rear.

I have most of the cabinet to the left of the microwave finished. I traced the curve of the door onto a piece of left-over laminate and used my sanding wheel to follow the curve. I used my heat gun to remove a length of edging from a scrap piece and glued it onto the curved edge. I need to order some edging from my local Airstream dealer for the front doors. Salvaging it from scrap pieces only goes so far.

I thought just one hinge would be enough for a short piece of cabinet door, but the spring pulls the door down crooked, so I will need to use 2 hinges on about 9" of door.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

I thought just one hinge would be enough for a short piece of cabinet door, but the spring pulls the door down crooked, so I will need to use 2 hinges on about 9" of door.

JOHN - Yeah, kinda sucks that needs 2 hinges for 9" door. But the design of those hinges are such that the directional forces generated when spring is compressed vs. relaxed is such that you would not be able to adjust the door for both situations. Just found this out when I tried to adjust 2 of my doors. I could not get proper alignment relative to the doors on either side of it, but that was because the doors I am trying to adjust had a bow in the middle. So it could not adjust flush to both doors adjacent to it. Nothing to do with the hinges, but point being I got to intimately know those hinges' torsional tendencies. AS sending me 2 new doors.

Are you putting the 2nd right hinge inside the new face frame opening? Or are you cutting a notch to place it through that rectangular side panel as close to microwave as possible? Only asking because it seems it may look best to have a wide curved door, flush to microwave edge, even though part of it just covers that flat piece? Just brainstorming here.

[Pahaska]

The door will end at the end of the flat piece. That is where I have mounted the curved piece that I made and there is a flat surface there to mount the hinges.

I sawed the door with a planer blade. With a bit of hand sanding and a quick spray of clear gloss, the end of the door looks really good.

Finishing something like this on an installed cabinet is a lot harder then working with a cabinet as it is being built. I'm pretty happy with the result so far, but it would look different on new construction.

[Pahaska]

I mounted the door on the remaining cabinet to the left of the microwave. I had traced a door curve onto a piece of scrap laminate, but I used the door I bought at the garage sale at the Airstream factory. After mounting the part, I found that that door was not as deeply curved as the doors in my coach, probably why it was in the garage sale. There is a gap between the curve of the cabinet part and the door, but it is not real noticeable and I'm going to live with it, at least for now.

The knob is still in the lower left hand corner of the door. I tried putting it there and using only one hinge, but the springs on the hinges are so strong that it simply pulled the door crooked. I mounted the second hinge, but left the knob where it was. I think it looks nice that way and the door does not twist when opened with the knob.

The black bit at the top is to cover two staples that hold the top of the flat piece. That was the only way I could attach that piece other than screws.

I need to take the AI back to storage to keep from getting sideways with the property owner's assn, so I'll hold off working on the hole where the old microwave lived for another time.

[rowiebowie]

Looks good. Putting off finishing out the old opening gives you time to weigh options and plan. Just don't be like me. When I stop mid project on anything, I tend to let a significant mount of time pass before I get back to it.

[wachuko]

John, just curious... why not cover the flat piece of wood with the curved door? Was that due to the clearance required for the microwave door to open?

Reason for asking is that, from the photos shared, I see no reason why you stopped there.

Either way. Came out great. Thank you, as always, for sharing.

[Titus]

Our AI came with a Cuisinart CMW 200 microwave. Per the website it is 1000 W cooking power, 1100 W grilling power, 1500 W power consumption. We have never used the convection feature and don't expect that we ever will. We have never needed to use the full 1.2 cu ft of the interior for the stuff that we have cooked (mostly heated/re-heated), and could get by with 0.7 cu ft. We could also get by with things taking a bit longer to heat. To me the biggest advantage of a smaller microwave would be IF we could run it without the generator.

But... Is the Magnum MMS 1012 invertor really good for 10 minutes of continuous operation at its maximum rating of 1000W? The manual says '1000 watts continuous at 25°C', but can I believe it? 1000W = 83A @ 12V. 83A for 10 minutes = 14AH, which is about 10% of the capacity of our two Group 24 batteries. Does it do any damage to the batteries to draw power out that quickly?

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by wachuko

John, just curious... why not cover the flat piece of wood with the curved door? Was that due to the clearance required for the microwave door to open?

Reason for asking is that, from the photos shared, I see no reason why you stopped there.

The door is limited to a little over 90 degrees swing by the trim. I am tempted to put spacers on the back where the trim attaches to get a little more door swing.

There would be an interference at the top with the flat piece that is routed out to the level of the trim. I have plenty of door material, but I like the shorter door. The flat piece is the same laminate.

[toskeysam]

All this information about the mini-microwave really got my “project fever” going again....until my wife reminded me she is “vertically challenged”. She also reminded me how I really liked the biscuits she bakes in the current convection unit. Oh well....

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

She also reminded me how I really liked the biscuits she bakes in the current convection unit. Oh well....

TOSKEYSAM - And that right there is the overriding factor in deciding if it is worth relocating. I am short 5'4", wife even shorter, so my microwave stays put until we grow 4-5 more inches

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

All this information about the mini-microwave really got my “project fever” going again....until my wife reminded me she is “vertically challenged”. She also reminded me how I really liked the biscuits she bakes in the current convection unit. Oh well....

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

TOSKEYSAM - And that right there is the overriding factor in deciding if it is worth relocating. I am short 5'4", wife even shorter, so my microwave stays put until we grow 4-5 more inches

hahahahahaha

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Titus

But... Is the Magnum MMS 1012 invertor really good for 10 minutes of continuous operation at its maximum rating of 1000W? The manual says '1000 watts continuous at 25°C', but can I believe it? 1000W = 83A @ 12V. 83A for 10 minutes = 14AH, which is about 10% of the capacity of our two Group 24 batteries. Does it do any damage to the batteries to draw power out that quickly?

Hi

No inverter made is 100% efficient. The same is true of converter / chargers, but that's a different story. Running at full blast, you have wire losses into the inverter before anything else happens. The inverter it's self may have an efficiency number on the spec sheet. They rarely have a curve that shows efficiency at all running loads. On top of that lead acid batteries have fairly significant internal resistance. Pull a lot of current and their output drops.

So since we don't have all the specs and measurements, this is a bit of a guess, but not real far off. First, the batteries are likely closer to 11V than to 12 if you are pulling near 100A out of them. Let's guess 11.5. Wire loss in a typical setup will be over 1/4V but let's use that. You are now at 11.25V. Under full load, 80% efficiency is a pretty good guess for a typical inverter. That all comes out to around 111A. If you look around, you just might find a 120A fuse in series with your inverter .. wonder why they picked that number ....

Next up is that battery capacity on a lead acid drops a lot under high discharge. Get high enough and you can cut the capacity in half. Let's guess that your 100AH usable drops to 75AH usable in this case. Net result is that you have roughly 40 minutes of run time on a device that is consuming 1KW. Your ten minutes (if it all is at full power) will use up about 1/4 of the battery capacity.

Temperature figures into this. Also the age of the battery comes in. The charge level on the battery obviously matters. Just how well the battery has been maintained will always be an issue. The stuff above assumes a brand new fully charged battery in perfect shape.

Lots of variables.

Bob

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

This is the microwave used in the 19' Shorty AI.

That looks like the same unit that's on the pull out drawer in my 26'.
I was skeptical since Contoure doesn't seem to exist online, but it's worked flawlessly. I wouldn't want it any smaller, since a large bowl will bump the side as it rotates and knock the roller ring off center.
I want to fasten mine down, so it doesn't slide around on the drawer. Velcro? Foam blocks front and rear?

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

I want to fasten mine down, so it doesn't slide around on the drawer. Velcro? Foam blocks front and rear?

In the Shorty, and in my new installation, the microwave is held in place by the stainless steel trim (about $65). The trim is supposed to be attached at the rear by 4 existing screws. Unfortunately, these seem to be one-way security screws on mine and I only managed to remove one. I carefully drilled beside each screw and used 1/4" sheet metal screws to attach the trim. You would not want the trim.

I'm sure you could carefully drill alongside each of the two bottom screws and attach short angle pieces to tie the unit down. I would cut two short pieces of 1" aluminum angle for the purpose.

[Pahaska]

With the matching laminate now in hand, I have spent the last couple of days in the workshop building a drawer and laminating faces for the door and the flap below the door. The space below the drawer will be covered with a swing-down flap with two struts to limit travel and to hold it closed. These are the same struts as in Airstream upper cabinets.

We are having a cold snap here in Austin and working conditions are not ideal. To make things worse, I broke the belt on my ancient bandsaw that I use to cut widths of laminate.

Rather than using knobs matching the original cabinet knobs, I bought two pulls that lie almost flat against the drawer front. To install these pulls, I have to use a Forsner bit to drill two 1 1/8" holes and then use a saw to connect the holes. Ridges on the sides of the pulls lock them in place. That makes the hole dimensions critical and it takes a lot of time to install them. In a few minutes, I'll go back to the shop and start installing the second pull.

The photo shows the drawer in place and the flap below the door in place for a size check. I still need to trim both the width and the height a bit before installing the pull and hinges.

I ordered matching edge binding at my Airstream dealer. It has not arrived yet. That is why the drawer edges are still raw. The binding was reasonable, but the shipping is a bit high.

BTW ... anyone who has the light camel interior can order the "Deluxe Asian Sand" laminate from Lowe's. Not even a special order. It comes only in 48" x 144" sheets. As you can see, it is a perfect match for my cabinets.

[Boxster1971]

Nice work John. I'll add a link for those who want to buy some of the Wilsonart lamiate for interior mods on their Interstates.

Your color was Asian Sand, I have Asian Night. Nice stuff.

https://www.wilsonart.com/search/keyword/asian

[toskeysam]

Boxster1971....I was informed that Wilsonart ceased production of Asian Night high gloss as of Oct28,2018.

[Pahaska]

I have both the drawer front and the flap for the storage in the bottom finished.

My edge banding came in at the dealer today, so I went to pick it up. I had assumed that it was an iron-on binding, based in the remainder of the laminated parts in the van. Surprise! It requires some sort of adhesive and I have nothing in the shop that is appropriate. One more trip to Lowe's, I guess.

The shipping and handling from Airstream cost 150% the cost of the parts. No way around this, as it must match the rest of the cabinetry.

Yesterday, I messed up installing the second drawer pull in the lower flap when the guide I was using slipped. This morning, I laminated a new flap after securing the guide better. This one looks good. The photo shows the completed fronts in place and waiting for the edge binding.

I love the cabinet pulls. My wife and I have arthritic hands and these pulls do not require grasping tightly like the knobs Airstream uses. They protrude only about 1/4" from the cabinet front. I found them at Rockler and they were quite reasonably priced. They do require care in installation to assure they are square with the edges of the panels.

[wachuko]

John, that came out great!!

[Titus]

Are you able to replace the existing push-in knobs with the recessed pulls, or are they only for new installations? If the latter, what us used to keep the drawers or cabinets from opening on their own?