[Elecraft] antistatic mat for K3 assembly

[David Ferrington, M0XDF]

In my experience, all the leads of ESD equipment have a 1M ohm  
resistor in them, normally moulded into the banana plug.

And Yes you need an antistatic wrist strap and a mat (I also connected  
the earth of the motherboard to my ESD point while building).
All the leads need to go to one point (not a daisy chain) and that  
needs to be connected to Mains Safety Earth.
I modified my Soldering station (which has an earthed tip) to add 4  
banana plug sockets connected directly to the mains earth of the  
station. now I have a convenient set-up with the ESD leads terminating  
at one point.

Even if it might be possible to assemble the K3 without the mat, the  
manual stresses in many places you must take ESD precautions, so if  
something was faulty, you might not get a warranty repair in you  
didn't. Besides, you've waited all this time for the K3, is it worth  
the £20 or so to have to wait again if something does blow?
And, if you ever work on the K3, take a board out or fit another  
option (the KRX3 for example), you'll need to use it again. The mats  
are slightly soft and make a good working surface and help prevent  
scratches etc.

It's worth the small investment.


73 de M0XDF, K3 #174
-- 
Hofstadter's Law: The time and effort required to complete a project are
always more than you expect, even when you take into account  
Hofstadter's
Law.

On 12 May 2008, at 09:05, KBG Luxford wrote:

> The anti-static wrist-strap should have something like a 1 megohm  
> resistor between the conductive strap and its connector at the end  
> of its spiral cord.  The resistor does not impede the draining of  
> charge, and it is there to help protect you in case you touch  
> something at a dangerous potential.