I agree that, in theory, just tying everything together is adequate for ESD protection, and Wayne and I agree that it is good workbench practice to recommend tying everything to the mains safety ground because it's likely there are things on the bench connected to the mains safety ground, such as a power supply or soldering iron.
All Kjeld wanted to know is whether he *must* have a wrist strap and/or ESD pad to safely assembly and install a KRX3 in his K3. I'll repeat my original answer to him below that exploded into this thread if you're interested. I still stand by it. My goal is to help Elecraft customers get the job at hand done, in this case with a simple time-proven protocol. I enjoy these discussions as much as anyone, but I am conscious that they can easily convince a new builder who asked a simple question that he cannot be successful without lots of resources and experience. Ron AC7AC My original response: "As the KRX3 manual says (pg 5), avoid voltage differences between yourself and the components. If you don't have an anti-static mat or wrist strap: DO NOT use carpet on your work bench (a common practice before solid state). Wood, Formica, etc., is fine. Metal is also okay for this, but not a good practice for any bench on which you'll power up a rig. DO NOT use Styrofoam or other plastics to hold parts other than the pink bags some parts are shipped in. DO touch an unpainted metal ground often while working. (When without a pad I touch a ground every time before picking up an electronic part or pcb - it only takes a fraction of a second to do so.) DO touch an unpainted metal part of the K3 itself after picking up a part and before touching the part to the K3. (That equalizes any possible voltage difference between you - and the part you're holding - and the K3 so the charge won't flow through the part.) If you ground the metal case of the K3, you can touch it before picking up each part to accomplish both objectives at the same time. The Mains supply safety ground is a perfectly good ground to use to discharge yourself. There's more background on page 5 of the KRX3 manual, but the above steps will keep you and the parts safe without a dedicated ESD workstation." -----Original Message----- From: Don Wilhelm [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 8:21 PM To: Ron D'Eau Claire Cc: 'Don Cunningham'; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 ESD Ron, While we all agree that screws in an anti-static package is overkill, I hope that all will consider the essential content of this thread. It does not matter whether everything is a "ground" or whether it is at 1000 volts above ground. What is important is that everything in your working environment is at the same potential. Connecting your wrist strap and the anti-static mat (on your work area) to the same "ground" point will assure that condition. Open the ESD prevention packages on the anti-static mat and let your hands linger on the antistatic mat a bit before picking up any component and all will be well. As for "touching a grounded metal surface", my prior comments will suffice - it is better than nothing, but there is a "better way". 73, Don W3FPR On 12/18/2010 10:58 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: > I've gotten spare screws from Elecraft in ESD packages too, Hi! > > But, if a newbie isn't sure, it's not a bad "rule of thumb". > > Gad, I'm glad that thread is over! > > Ron AC7AC > > -----Original Message----- > From: Don Cunningham [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 6:06 PM > To: [email protected]; Ron D'Eau Claire > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 ESD > > Mouser does it all the time. My Amphenol PL-259's were even in ESD > packaging. Good thing is they arrived with no static damage :>) > 73, > Don > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
