[Elecraft] Anti Static Mats

[Fred Townsend]

I was once asked if the mats on my assembly line were antistatic. I thought they were but I wasn’t sure since I didn’t buy them. The mats took a beating and only lasted a year or two. Some were new and some were in tatters. I flipped over a new mat. It clearly said antistatic but the older mats didn’t have any labels and they looked different. I took an ohmmeter, stabbing the probes in about an inch apart. No reading. No reading for the new mats or the antistatic bags we used by the thousands. After rubbing with fur, a triboelectric meter (a meter used for measuring static charge) was used on the mats and bags without measuring a charge.

My conclusion was surfaces could be antistatic without measuring any resistance. Same for bags. If you have one from your Elecraft kit, try measuring it with an ohmmeter.
73
Fred, AE6QL


-----Original Message-----
>From: Sam Morgan <k5oai.sam at gmail.com>
>Sent: Apr 6, 2014 7:21 PM
>To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Anti Static Mats
>
>oops never mind, I just reread the pdf on the Sierra FS and it's made in 
>China, where as the Desco is made in the US (or so they say)
>
>On 4/6/2014 9:00 PM, Alan Bloom wrote:
>
>> I recommend against using a mat that has no specifications other than
>> asserting it is an "anti-static mat."  I found that the two I bought and
>> tested both had too high a resistance to do any good.
>
>-- 
>GB & 73
>K5OAI
>Sam Morgan