1. FINELY more hv fun i love hv and have several Tesla Coils

Posted at 2:49AM on Sep 27th 2007 by alex mccown

2. very nice, this would be a good starter project for HV work. Adding solder/salt on the top electrodes seems to give some cool effects too.

Posted at 3:39AM on Sep 27th 2007 by Scott

3. Fun! Yeah, i have one of these in my room i threw together. Sometimes i use it to light smokes when i wanna show off, but man... That thing can burn you!
I actually have 3 extra small neon sign transformers if anyone in the Silicon Valley area wants one/some.
um.. my gmail is tlalexander aaaaaat geeeeemaaail ddot commm (only, you know, yeah.) I got them for free, so i can keep the love flowing. :)
-Taylor

Posted at 6:45AM on Sep 27th 2007 by Taylor Alexander

4. Solemn article. It make me lost in thoughts.

Posted at 6:45AM on Sep 27th 2007 by llison

5. I used to make these using the ignition coil from a car. They were common before electronic ignitions took over the auto industry. They were a lot of fun.

Posted at 8:11AM on Sep 27th 2007 by John Stevens

6. lol! I made one of these using an oil burner ignition transformer (OBIT) as well as another with two ignition coils driven from a pair of 2N3055's.

Amusing hack *2:- obtain dead TFT monitor (17" preferably), remove the cold cathode drive transformers and hook the two primaries up out of phase with electrodes connected to the secondaries. (centre ground) :) Battery powered 'ladder.

variants include using a PCB from a smashed 12" plasma globe.

Posted at 9:13AM on Sep 27th 2007 by andre

7. You can also make a Jacob's ladder out of an old monitor - I remember reading this years ago:

http://www.afrotechmods.com/reallycheap/Jacob/jacob.htm

Posted at 1:04PM on Sep 27th 2007 by chuma

8. Years ago my dad had one to show off to us kids. Later, in my college years, I took it one step further and mounted 2 beer cans to a nicely finished piece of wood and connected them via wiring to the HV transformer. The arc that was created climbed up the cans and took the paint off of the aluminum.

Posted at 5:27PM on Sep 27th 2007 by JM

9. Really look like a neural structure! Perfect!!

Posted at 3:45AM on Sep 28th 2007 by Rasta

10. I believe automotive ignition coils are still quite common.

Posted at 2:38AM on Sep 29th 2007 by static

11. I used to build these when I was a kid 35 yrs ago. In fact it *is* a very memorable experience when you touch it.

A half wave rectifier on the xfmr input can add a nice touch. Additionally, one of the electrodes can be split into two, one on top and one on the bottom and the unit can be used a high voltage timing switch. The arc's heat is what makes the arc climb. Pure Fire!

The 18kv xfmrs are really nice. 4 kv xmrs work ok.

Posted at 7:36AM on Oct 1st 2007 by charlie