[Elecraft] ESD precautions?

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

A grounded mat is an excellent idea, Bill. They are cheap. With it get a
grounded wrist strap. I got a nice mat and velcro-strap for my wrist for
less than $20. 

That said, is the mat and wrist strap necessary? Not at all! They are great
insurance against a slip or forgetting. With the mat and wrist strap, you
can forget ESD problems and just build. 

Still, I've handled far more ESD-sensitive parts without a ground strap on
me than with one, and I've yet to lose a part.

If you don't have a pad or wrist strap, sit down, don't shuffle your feet on
the floor, touch a grounded object, then pick up the part. Put it in the
board and solder it in place. Then, before your pick up the next part,
ground yourself again by touching a grounded object.

That's the way to be SAFE without a pad and wrist strap. Frankly, most of
the time you can ignore all the cautions and "get away" with it, but why
gamble? Especially when the damage ESD does may simply degrade the part. In
that case the rig may still work, but it won't work as well as it should.
It's unlikely that you'd ever figure out why. 

Yes, an AC mains ground is FB. The "third" round pin in the USA. Just be
sure it really is grounded! It's amazing how many 3-wire outlets have a
missing ground! Simple outlet testers are available from any hardware store,
or you can simply check to see if you have 115 VAC from one of the "hot"
terminals to ground at the outlet. 

About that wrist strap, if you haven't messed with them. It's VERY dangerous
to ground yourself while working around equipment. A short could easily
electrocute you! To make the wrist strap safe, it has a high-value resistor
(several megohms) in the lead. That lets the static charge drain off but
won't let a lethal current flow through your body and it should you touch a
hot circuit.

Never hold onto a ground, or attach a ground directly to you, while working
on electrical equipment.  

Ron AC7AC 



-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Able2fly at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2004 7:46 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] ESD precautions?


I've built a couple of solid state kits paying little or no particular 
concern to ESD damage other than using a 3 wire soldering unit. No problems
so far, 
but I may be pushing my luck. What would be the minimum preventive measures
to 
be taken when building something like the K2?  Is a grounded mat desirable? 
If so, would AC mains ground be the place to ground the mat to? If there is
a 
tutorial along these lines, I've yet to come across it...

Thanks,
Bill  K3UJ
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