Microwave Oven Door Design FAIL

[xavier60]

Like many other owners of the Panasonic NN-SF550W  flatbed microwave, the push button opening works fine. The door has to be slammed to close, until something breaks. The fix is to oil/grease the slide inside the door, not the exposed parts of the pawls.
This model is barely able to cook in its original state. Panasonic must hate its customers to have marketed such a dysfunctional model.

[ejeffrey]

I honestly don't think this is that big of a deal.  There is a certain amount of force that needs to hold the door closed to get a good seal.  With a mechanical latch, that force has to be applied by the user one way or another.  There are several ways to solve this problem.  You can mount the microwave in a fixed position, such as an under counter unit.  You can push it up against a wall.  You can just push fast enough that the inertia holds it in place (this works for me with most microwaves I have tried).

Alternately, you can just add weight.  Sure, the manufacturer could do that, but that is the worst possible solution.  It means I have to pay for transporting a bunch of ballast halfway around the world.  Plus it makes it harder for me to load into my car, unbox, and lift it onto the countertop.  It is even more inconvenient if you move regularly.  I would much rather just set something heavy on top of the microwave myself after it is installed if I need it.

[rastro]

I just looked at some additional microwaves and found a couple more that don't slide around when operating the door.  Sadly this positive trait seems to be in the minority of units.

I have now found both types push-button-to-open & handle-pull-only (no release button) that don't require excessive force to work the door.  Additionally these working models don't weight any more than the others.  They're also in comparable price ranges as the failing models.

The fact that are a few working counter examples indicates that it is possible to produce a door that isn't a nuisance to operate.  Why isn't the better design in the majority? 

-rastro

[Gyro]

Is this really a serious discussion in the Projects, Designs and Technical Stuff section?

Just get some foam rubber pads and stick them to the bottom of the feet.

At worst it's a case of maunufacturers failing to fit feet with a sufficiently high coefficient of static friction, it's hardly a "Door Design FAIL". 

[grifftech]

Actually more like a first world problem. 

[Zero999]

It wasn't a problem with the older microwaves with the several kilo lump of iron and copper behind the control panel.

This is likely the problem. It is the demise of the microwave oven transformer and its replacement with some kind of electronic switched mode gizmo.

Which is actually a good thing. The switched mode power supply can linearly adjust the power delivered to the magnetron, thus giving superior power control to the old transformer, which was PWMed at a very low frequency of around 0.2Hz or less. Less energy will be used, both during the microwave's life and during shipping.

It's just a shame the designers didn't take the lighter weight into account when selecting the feet and door mechanism.

[KE5FX]

Is this really a serious discussion in the Projects, Designs and Technical Stuff section?

Well, the manufacturers certainly don't seem to think so.