Alan makes some good points. There is nothing wrong with that. They are not wrong but I offer another viewpoint. I think Elecraft is always going to error on the side of safety and assume the builder is going to do the wrong thing, therefore safety to the max.
Nevertheless there are good habits that should be learned and they will protect you when you forget to wear the wrist strap. As a consultant I have done ESD audits of factories. If they know the audit is coming all the wrist straps are in place. Surprise audits are another thing. I find the straps and footwear to be rarely used. How can they get away with that? The answer is they have good work habits that avoid ESD problems rather than bleeding off static build up. Here are a few everyday hints the pros use. 1. Wear cotton! Avoid wearing wool, silk, or synthetics when dealing with electronics. 2. Upon entering your work area touch some heavy metal to bleed off any body charge. Always touch the chassis before touching PCBs within the chassis. 3. Always handle a PCB by the edges and never by the circuit or connector. 4. Keep the humidity above 30%. If necessary use a plant mister to spray your work area. 5. Plastic is OK for hardware storage but use metal, such as muffin tins, for electronic parts. If you must use those polystyrene parts bin for semiconductors, line the bins with aluminum foil. 6. Keep the parts in their original shipping containers until you are ready to install them. Think pink! Pink bags are one type antistatic material. The silvery looking bags are another. Both work great. 7. Do not pre-stage your parts by placing them in foam plastic of some kind. 8. Avoid polystyrene foam like the plague. Even a polystyrene cup with coffee in it can hold a 5000 volt charge on the outside. Picking that cup up can transfer that charge to your body without feeling a thing. 73 Fred, AE6QL -----Original Message----- >From: Alan Bloom <a...@elecraft.com> >> I usually work on a very good antistatic which is silicone rubber as >> well so hot solder won't affect it, but I do not wear a strap. I just >> put my hands, the boards, etc. on the mat when I work. > >It is possible to be static-safe without a mat or strap, but you have to >be VERY careful about touching things in the right order. One mistake >is all it takes. > >So I recommend that everyone use an anti-static mat and wrist strap when >working on electronic circuitry. However, it has to be a good-quality >mat. Some inexpensive so-called "anti-static" mats in fact do not work >correctly. I posted about this several years ago. See: > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
