Keith,
You are, of course, right, but 1) I do have an ESD mat (and use
it!), and, 2) no, I didn't tape down the "sensitive" components. I will
say this though: Doing this helped a lot because there are several
components that could have easily been confused (some inductors and a
resistor or two), which were not. As far as I know, resistors,
capacitors and most (if not all) diodes will not be damaged by ESD.
Note: Diodes will either conduct when forward biased or "zener" and
conduct when backwards biased - thought I'm not sure about "special"
diodes [barrier, shotkey (sp?), and the like]. And, normal ESD damage is
caused by high potentials arching within the component. I believe diodes
have plenty of capacity to absorb the power, either forward or reversed
biased. Capacitors will simply "charge" (which is why attaching a
capacitor to a Van de Graph generator is a Bozo no-no). At any rate, I
have never heard of any of these types of components being damaged by
ESD: Has anyone?
Regards,
kurtt
Kurt Pawlikowski, AKA WB9FMC
The Pinrod Corporation
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(773) 284-9500
http://pinrod.com
Darwin, Keith wrote:
Tape - cardboard - plastic - paper - Ahhhh!!!!
My ESD training (what little I've had) is causing all sorts of alarm
bells to go off! I fear that many of us have taken techniques that
worked fine in the pre-ESD days and are applying them in cases where
they are dangerous.
Yea, I know that caps (most at least) and resistors are not ESD
sensitive, but that partially assembled K2 board, already populated with
some ICs is.
When I did my K2, I had it on a grounded ESD mat and I wore a wrist
strap the whole time. I stored all my parts in metal mixing bowls or
just laid them on the mat. I'm sure this was overkill but it was easier
to use good ESD practice than to try to discipline myself to apply it
only when it was needed.
- Keith N1AS -
- K2 5411.ssb.100 -
-----Original Message-----
While building my KX-1: When I conducted my inventory, I taped the
resistors, inductors and capacitors right to the pages of the book.
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [email protected]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [email protected]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
