Thanks for all the help guys, I decided to take my own advice and get the help of an electrician that lives across the street. My project worked out after all :)
I guess that is my fault for not being clear, the rig I was using was broken when someone knocked over the box. What kinds of alternate methods can be used?
Other than a power box which can be incredibly expensive, can someone show a good way to charge a capacitor in the 300-450 volt range, and as i am designing a circuit around multiple capacitors would i connect them in series or parallel, and yes they are polarized