Frank, no disrespect intended, but I bet someone besides Thelma and Louise tried driving off a cliff....but if someone asked about it here and said, "would my car hold up to that?" I'd still jump on the thread and suggest there might be better ways of finding out than driving the car off the cliff yourself.
The Russians did research on thousands of workers who had been exposed to microwaves during the development of radar in the 1950's. Their research showed health problems so serious that the Russians set strict limits of 10 microwatts exposure for workers and one microwatt for civilians.
In Robert O. Becker's book, The Body Electric, he described Russian research on the health effects of microwave radiation, which they called "microwave sickness." On page 314, Becker states:
"It's [Microwave sickness] first signs are low blood pressure and slow pulse. The later and most common manifestations are chronic excitation of the sympathetic nervous system [stress syndrome] and high blood pressure.
This phase also often includes headache, dizziness, eye pain, sleeplessness, irritability, anxiety, stomach pain, nervous tension, inability to concentrate, hair loss, plus an increased incidence of appendicitis, cataracts, reproductive problems, and cancer. The chronic symptoms are eventually succeeded by crisis of adrenal exhaustion and ischemic heart disease [the blockage of coronary arteries and heart attacks]."
According to Dr. Lee, changes are observed in the blood chemistries and the rates of certain diseases among consumers of microwaved foods. The symptoms above can easily be caused by the observations shown below. The following is a sample of these changes:
a. Lymphatic disorders were observed, leading to decreased ability to prevent certain types of cancers.
b. An increased rate of cancer cell formation was observed in the blood.
c. Increased rates of stomach and intestinal cancers were observed.
d. Higher rates of digestive disorders and a gradual breakdown of the systems of elimination were observed.
I'm not saying that this is what will happen to you if you cut holes in the side of your microwave- I'm not sophisticated enough scientifically to know if that's true or not.
But, I know that furniture crafters have been using alternate, much more safe processes for accomplishing your goals WITHOUT any potential for anything other than a second degree burn on your epidermis.
Is it really necessary to use a microwave in a way it wasn't intended to get this done?
I mean, what are the walls of the microwave there for, if its that safe? Wouldn't capitalism remove the need to have walls, if it was safe and so there'd be a hand held emitter of microwaves we'd stick in a cup of coffee or your Hungry Man chicken dinner if there wasn't any danger of the microwaves bouncing around the room and creating unintended havoc?