15-07-2023, 05:51 PM
(14-07-2023, 12:32 PM)CheshireNoir Wrote: Well spotted someone,
Yes the entire surface is ESD mat. I custom built the desk and someone had gifted me several meters of ESD matting so I integrated it. There are clip points for ESD wrist straps along the top edge :-)
John
Excellent Stuff! Your electronics components will appreciate that.
Here is some trivia on the matter.
Ensure that the mat is connected to an Earth via a 1 MEGOHM RESISTOR and likewise for wrist straps.
Note that these resistors are often inbuilt into the leads but measure them to ensure they're present.
The 1-2 MEGOHM value is in the Goldilocks area between a good conductor and an insulator for ES dissipation in a controlled manner.
Keep your mat clean by using a dilute solution of 2-Propanol- in water which is often sold as Rezstore ESD Surface & Mat Cleaner.
If you solder near or on the bench mat you'll probably notice it'll become brownish, someone guesses it's the vapourised solder rosin landing on it.
To minimise this staining, you can place a small rectangular offcut of the bench matting on the bench mat if stacking the bench matting still makes it ESD safe.
The small piece is sacrificed to become stained. You'll be amazed how clean the matting underneath it remains looking brand new.
Wrist straps become dirty and ineffectual with age and use. Replace periodically preferably before their elastic has perished.
To keep the ESD matting effective, minimise the number of non ESD plastic bits, bins & insulators on it because insulators accumulate charge by tribocharging and are not fully dissipated by ESD matting. In manufacturing environments where plastics are used on ESD matting, ION generators are used to neutralize ESD charges from insulators on ESD benches but that becomes expensive.
Happy Days!