The neon sign transformer, Marx generator, or voltage multiplier was the hard part of the project. But nowadays you can get cheap high voltage modules that are quite inexpensive. [PaulGetson ...

Instead of the high-tech apparatus found in traditional fusion labs, he powered his creation with a 12kV neon sign transformer. The result was a device capable of generating plasma—the essential ...

and a neon sign transformer with a variac to control output. Even the optics are completely DIY, a hand drilled gold mirror and a NaCL window made from a polished chunk of icecream salt!