Dale and all,
I would add to that --
When working without an antistatic mat, how much charge is on the tools
that you pick up?
Also where do you put any removed boards to assure that they do not
accumulate a charge?
An anti-static mat is cheap insurance.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 12/22/2017 2:36 PM, Dale Chayes wrote:
On Dec 22, 2017, at 14:08 , rkr...@johngalt.biz wrote:
On 12/22/2017 12:16 PM, G4GNX wrote:
Firstly, you absolutely MUST use an anti-static mat, suitably connected to ground and an
anti-static wrist strap. Whilst you might "get away with it" without those items, you may
cause unseen damage and you won't know until it breaks down. I know the manuals state that you can
"touch a metal object", but that's very hit and miss.
I'm going to respectfully disagree. The problem is not the static or the
ground, the problem is when you have a differential voltage between items.
Yes, and/or perhaps you add some charge that you brought to the party.
If you always maintain a forearm on the frame of your device and handle things
carefully while maintaining contact with the frame, you will all be at the same
electrical potential. Be sure to be in contact with the frame when opening
anti-static bags, too. Hold boards by the edges, don't finger the gold
contacts, and don't touch components if you don't have to.
Possible, but hard to accomplish in some situations. Ambient conditions (humid
vs arid) can make a big contribution to the potential for electrostatic
discharge.
This technique has worked for me for years.
I assume that means you have never seen the correlation between “it was
working, I did something to it, there was a spark, and now it does not work”.
This observation is common.
Damage form electrostatic discharge is often incremental - the damaged part
keeps “working” but sometimes not as well as it used to - this falls int he
category of “incremental” static damage and can degrade the performance of the
device, part, circuit, or system. Sometimes you have measure the performance
carefully to “see” the damage - or take the top off the part and use an SEM. I
changed the way I think about this, and work on electronics, based on a
collection of photos that an analog engineer I worked with in the 80’s showed
me.
In a simplistic example, a small discharge can blow a gate in a 24 bit A/D
converter which then fails to correctly report the result, or an opamp to loose
gain or add noise, often in small steps.
I don't do sensitive work often, but I never seem to have all the
'anti-static' stuff when I need it.
That is simply a matter of being prepared….. My approach is similar to the one
I use for trauma kits: scatter them around in the likely places - as someone
else said, it’s cheap insurance.
The only danger is if you get carried away
or distracted
and lift that arm.
YMWV,
-Dale
KB1ZKD
73
Ray
KK4WPB
Molon labe
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