->  WC> Being a tad paranoid about such things I used a series high 
->  WC> value
->  WC> resistor in series with a lower value one with a neon bulb 
->  WC> across the smaller resistor as a visual indication of discharge. 

-> do you have a schematic? 
    
 WC> Nope I worked it out with ohm's law years ago, rather simple. 

well, heck, i could do that, too... i just thought i'd try something that
has already been designed, built, tested, and used successfully... who
needs more feathers, anyway O:)

 WC> No longer have it and anyway the resistors were in shrink wrap.    

if i were to create one, i'd definitely be putting the assembly inside shrinkwrap...

-> sounds like something that would definitely work... especially with 
-> an indicator that the is no more charge stored in the tube... that's 
-> always been my biggest fear... and why i ground the tube even after
-> discharging it... i don't like the stuff building back up and 
-> surprising me, either ;)

 WC> You should have seen me jump when I built a HV power supply
 WC> with 25KV and enough current to light cardboard afire in under a
 WC> second across a 3/4 inch gap.

 WC> It stayed in a drawer unused after that until I moved and tossed it
 WC> in the trash.

 WC> Took me 90 minutes to build on the cheap.

i hear ya... i have a self built power supply that uses a transformer from
an old pinball machine... several bridge rectifiers on it off the taps...
one tap is rectified to an 8 pole double throw high voltage relay that
controls power to all the other outputs with one set of contacts used to
short the huge filter capaciters across some resistors to drain them when
the power is off... when the power is on, the caps filter the main 12 volt
supply voltage... it was just something that i threw together to power 12
volt stuff on my bench and i decided to also tap off 5 volt for some
digital stuff as well as a few other voltages needed for those circuts... i
even had a computer connected to it at one time using it for the power
supply instead of a switching supply like we more commonly see... worked
great and handled everything that that system needed power for... AIR, i
still had enough capabilities to connect in a car radio for some music O:)

)\/(ark