Neon Nigiri

I'm new, my name is John. Not really. But I'm new, I assure you. And I love sushi (Spider Roll FTW)! Also I want to learn about physics, and aerospace engineering. Or anything to do with tons of electricity. Is it just me or do the Smiley avatars remind anyone else of The Dudesons xD PS I posted a thread in Engineering that should probably be in Physics so... Yeah. Bananas.

Should this be under Physics?

Alright I'll skip all the formalities and dive right in: I've got much at my disposal but I've only ever been good at manipulating electricity (welding/machining) rather than learning about it (unless you count the incident wherein I had a nasty sensation from several turns of welder lead creating a magnetic field strong enough to attract my arm to a grounded pipe and numb it, thus making it very difficult to remove). So please have patience if I use wrong terms etc. Before we begin let me just say this: I work with 600 amp gouging units on a daily basis, I know to respect rather than fear the power involved. Also, yes I am hell-bent on creating this device, so hopefully you can help me do it safely! Okay, so basically I have a couple questions about materials I can use and a few thoughts that may sound insane so please bare with me. The first being the most recent thought regarding the coils themselves... Just a thought but would solid core MIG wire work? It comes in nice big 44lbs spools, is obviously conductive, and bends/conforms nicely. Using a lathe or even a drill press/milling machine, this could be an extremely easy and fast way to make a multi layer coil. It generally comes in 0.35 and 0.45 sizes but I have no idea what the AWG is for that. Also, I have no clue what the resistance etc would be. Maybe it would just melt (like it's supposed to haha) if I put over 2000J through it... Could a good amount of 2.5" x 5.5" 400v 3900uF electrolytic caps work? According to a program I use that equates to 312J each... Heck, I may even be able to salvage an old welder if anyone could tell me what's the most useful components for my needs! So many questions that I can't even remember right now... Thanks in advance, everyone!