anti-static bench mats

[Chip Fetrow]

I pretty much agree with Rob.

I either use wood or synthetic benches (Formica, Nevermar...)  I  
absolutely won't use a rubber gun mat.

I don't work barefoot most of the time because of an event that nearly  
killed me.

I use a wrist strip with a high resistance in series.  I am not going  
to arc, and I am not going to die.  Yet, I am going to protect the  
components.

There are many wrist straps.  Some are really cool, and fall into the  
$20 price point.  Some have no snaps, and no clips, and are free.  All  
work just as well.

I install memory and drives in computers with no grounding straps.  I  
make sure I touch a big piece of metal first.  I have yet to cork any  
components.

--chip

On Jun 11, 2012, at 1:00 PM, tacos-request at amrad.org wrote:

> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 06:56:20 -0400
> From: "Robert E. Seastrom" <rs at seastrom.com>
>
> Subject: Re: anti-static bench mats
>
> Mike ODELL <mo at ccr.org> writes:
>
>> equipping new bench and was astonished by the dynamic range
>> in price of benchtop ESD mats. I understand wanting a dispersive
>> top (layer) but there are numerous claim of voodoo an magic fairy  
>> dust
>> to justify a 10x range in price. feels a bit like the nosebleed  
>> audio world where
>> where objective impact on performance focuses more on wallet  
>> extraction
>> than signal extraction. (grin)
>>
>> so what do people use for ESD mat and where did you buy it?
>
> Less is more.  If you work barefoot in a damp basement and don't wear
> synthetics, you can pretty much get by without such things.  ;-)
>
> -r