DIY Capacitor Discharge Tool

A camera photoflash comes to mind. Those little caps can store a lot of juice!

The article is so-so, but be sure to read the comments which follow. My fave:

"Tool, bah... Anyone who has ever worked in an electronics shop knows that there is only one way to discharge a capacitor. "ALEX! CATCH!!!"

Also, for anyone fiddling around with high-voltage capacitors for the first time, beware of another property of HV caps which will unpleasantly surprise you if you're not careful: dielectric relaxation. Translation: that capacitor you just discharged and think is safe to handle? Give it a few minutes. It's charged again!

The fix? As soon as you discharge that cap, wrap a couple of turns of bare wire around its terminals (or, if they're leads, twist the bare ends together) and store it that way. Eventually the dielectric will fully relax, making the device safe to handle - but give it plenty of time. Best to keep the terminals shorted together until you need it again.

1st tech job, used to come behind coworkers and jab them in the ass!