My untuned Tesla (how the HECK do I tune it? Adjust and pray? Voodoo?) will throw about two feet of spark in its current configuration.
My variac claims to be a 5-Amp device but I'm running it at, through a clever change in fuse, at 10-Amps. Hey, it's short pulses!
And still, I blow the fuse solid if I ramp the coil up too much. Not just melt, but BLOW, like, vaporized copper all inside the fuse tube.
Which is kinda neat.
I also saw a spark in the volt meter on the variac once, so I'm thinking I'm getting hella noise back up the line. I need to test and/or filter that.
As for Sparky the Spare Cat... he's gone. Haven't seem him at all in over a week, maybe two now. I miss him. A long hair grey cat with white toes (called "Frenchy" for his/her French manicure) is eating the cat food, slowly, timidly.
I'm about to put in an order for propane fittings and hoses, valves, and to pick up a propane tank... and to top up all my other tanks. This all is going to cost me a chunk of change! Sure, a nine dollar connecting hose is no big deal, but when you need nine of them...
Ah well, such is the price of mad science.