Sad news, but I believe it will work next time!
Can somebody show/tell me connection of the heater? Maybe using variac is not the best method. You can control the input power with for example triac - there are finished PCBs from ebay for even $3 that are able to handle 2000W.
Disappointing information: The test showed no excess heat!
But due to the power supply Alan Goldwater was not able to get more than 900°C.
So he was not able to get the same conditions Parkhomov and Lugano had.
I wonder why that was not discovered when they did the fuel-less test... 
Sad news, but I believe it will work next time!
Can somebody show/tell me connection of the heater? Maybe using variac is not the best method. You can control the input power with for example triac - there are finished PCBs from ebay for even $3 that are able to handle 2000W.
The difficulty is that it is not easy to make a resister coil such that it exactly suits all requirements: Maximum available voltage and current (mains supply)
Maximum required power. Maximum and minimum currents that can be controlled with the temperature controller. It is difficult to adjust those with the wire diameters that are available and the power you want to deliver to the small area of the heater coil. 
