fair warning: [Justin Atkin]’s video on how to make plasma, fusors, and magnetrons is a bit long. but it’s worth viewing because he’s laying a foundation for a series of experiments with plasma, which looks like it will be a lot of fun.

After a good primer on the physics of plasma, [Justin] goes into some detail about the basic tools of the trade: high voltage and high vacuum. A couple of scrap microwave oven transformers, a bridge rectifier, and a capacitor offer the 2000 volts DC output needed. It’s a workable setup, but we’ll take issue with the extremely harmful “scariac” autotransformer, popularized by [The King of Random]. It seems foolish to risk a uncomfortable death mixing water and line current when a 20-amp variac can be had for $100.

A good vacuum pump will be needed too, of course; possibly the money you can save by building your own Sprengel vacuum pump can be put toward the electrical budget. Vacuum chambers are low-cost too — Mason jars with ground rims and holes drilled for accessories like spark plugs. Magnets mounted below one chamber formed a rudimentary magnetron, thankfully without the resonating cavities needed for producing microwaves. another experiment attempted vapor deposition of titanium nitride.

It’s all pretty amazing stuff, and we’re looking forward to much more details and results. While we wait, feel totally free to check out the tons of plasma projects we’ve featured, from tiny plasma speakers to huge plasma tubes.