Stan, Welcome to the Elecraft reflector.
Your techniques may have been just fine, but only time will tell. The insidious thing about ESD is that it can partially damage components, which shortens their life. The fact that they do not fail immediately does not mean that your anti-static measures were effective. The use of both a wrist strap and an anti-static mat is highly recommended by Elecraft - what more can I say, it is like an insurance policy. Each will have to make their own decisions and take their own chances. Ask yourself how much you are willing to gamble on your K3 investment? and then you will have your individual answer to whether to invest in an anti-static mat or not. My goal is to provide prospective K3 builders with information like the above. For myself, I work on other hams gear, so I would be remiss if I did not use a good anti-static mat on the workbench. 73, Don W3FPR kf4by wrote: > Hi Guys, > > I've never posted to this group before but I decided to put in my 2 cents > regarding the Grounding Mat discussions. Seems all y'all making this way too > scientific......but maybe I'm missing something........ > > For a grounding mat I simply used the anti-static bag the RF board was > packaged in. I clipped my wrist strap to it until the radio grew to be a > chassis. At that time I clipped the wrist strap to the chassis but kept the > "mat" in place. All sub-assembly components were unwrapped on the "mat". > Hence everything was the same potential. > > The result: I didn't spend money on a mat I would only occasionally use and > #3995 is performing flawlessly. I guess you might call it the "mid-west farm > boy" approach, make due with what you have. > > Lots of smart folks on this reflector and I really enjoy the technical > chatter. > > 73, > Stan, KF4BY > > ______________________________________________________________ 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
