They weighed a ton in comparison to the new ones but they were solid and safe... And I could test and fix assembly errors in 36 linear feet on a slow moving line if one failed QA or it went in the trash... It was a game to me. I was young. LOL
They were sandwiched to prevent people from damaging that mesh piece. I bet a lot of them are leaking if they have that piece open to people damaging it.
Probably saves them 24 cents per microwave to make them that way. The door assembly used to be the most complicated piece of the assembly.
