Capacitor Shorting in transformer circuit

Question

I built the circuit shown in the link with 240v

https://www.instructables.com/id/Variable-voltage-ignition-coil-power-supply/

It did not work (produceing no spark), as I believe my capacitor was much too low of a value (around 5nf). Anyway, The capacitor was made from tin-foil like the one below

https://www.instructables.com/id/Homebrew-High-Voltage-Capacitors-on-the-Cheap/

I then made another capacitor in the same way, though forgot to include the space at the end between the tinfoil. Because of this, the capacitor short circuited. This caused the light dimmer to go up in a puff of smoke. I know it was stupid and i'm done with that circuit now, but nonetheless I am still wondering why I got no spark. Even as the circuit had virtually no capacitance, the ignition coil produced no spark. This makes me think maybe the fault in the original circuit was not the capacitor? Also, does anyone know why this caused the light dimmer to die?

Answer 1

Congratulations on the capacitor experimenting - it's good to see people trying such things. Ensuring they are not short circuited is a very good idea - but you know that :-( :-)

You have asked this question repeatedly in slightly different forms.
The answer is always the same - the capacitor was far far far far too small - about 200 times smaller than recommended.

You MAY have been getting some output but not have been able to draw a spark due to the low output.

The dimmer may not have functioned at such a low current.

Using a capacitor from a dead microwave oven would be better.