[Elecraft] ESD Safety

[Jeremiah McCarthy]

Until retirement in 1993, I worked for 35 years soldering in the aerospace industry...In every soldering station and straight soldering iron I ever encountered that had a 3 prong AC connector, the soldering tip was connected directly to house ground...I have an old Weller WTCP, a Hakko 936, an old Pace, and several straight soldering irons with 3 prong plugs and they all have tips grounded directly to house ground...The Hakko 808 desoldering tool has a grounded tip...Most soldering handles and the wire for them are made of static dissipating plastic to help drain any charge on the operator's body...It would be next to impossible to use one of these tools and not accidently touch the chassis or ground plane with it at one time or another...Grounding the work mat and the wrist strap through a 1 meg resistor is normal, but not the soldering tip...Some mats have a ring on the end of the ground wire that you slip over the round ground prong on the AC plug before you plug the soldering iron in...

It is important to remove the tip and clean it up occasionally...Corrosion eventually leads to the tip becoming isolated from ground... 

Jerry, wa2dkg