Antistatic Protection Equipment

[Deadwood]

I'm equiping myself with antistatic protection when working with electronics. This is what I have in mind right now. Wrist strap, table mat and antistatic soldering station.
I'll be grounding all this to my workbench that is an aluminum with MDF table. I know you should ground at the ground of an AC outlet, but living in a highrise, I'm paranoid of the ground not being a true ground or worse becoming live...I know there's a million in one chance of that but it's my life...besides, I think the table will more than work especially off carpet.

I'm also looking at an esd protected drawer cabinet for mainly the sensitive components. It's made of conductive plastic but it looks like it has a shelf life of up to 5 years, plus do I need to run a cable with a 1Mohm resistor down to the grounding point to discharge static electricity on the cabinet just as you would on the wrist strap and table mat? Costs about $43 CDN. Wouldn't an all aluminum cabinet with a ground cable do the same?

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[bharbour]

Originally Posted by Deadwood I'm equiping myself with antistatic protection when working with electronics. This is what I have in mind right now. Wrist strap, table mat and antistatic soldering station. I'll be grounding all this to my workbench that is an aluminum with MDF table. I know you should ground at the ground of an AC outlet, but living in a highrise, I'm paranoid of the ground not being a true ground or worse becoming live...I know there's a million in one chance of that but it's my life...besides, I think the table will more than work especially off carpet.

Hi,
It is pretty safe to use the AC ground for ESD control, especially if you use a 1 megOhm resistor in series. The 1 megOhm resistor limits the current to non-fatal levels. If the AC ground becomes energized, all kinds of rude things happen to dishwashers, garbage disposals and clothes washers because they use grounding to water pipes as well. You could probably use a cold water pipe for grounding instead of the AC ground. I would use the 1 meg resistor if you use the cold water pipe as ground too, especially if you have stuff on the bench that is tied to the AC ground.

Good Luck,
BobH

[Deadwood]

Thanks for your reply but I'm not taking a chance with my life. Besides, the static built up in my body can be easily discharged through something metalic like my large aluminum workbech frame.

My question is still about whether I need to run the same kind of ground cable from a conductive plastic drawer bin for my sensitive components to the grounding point?

[bharbour]

If the drawer is sitting on a conductive table mat, you don't need to ground it seperately. If it is not, ground it to the table frame, along with your mat. No resistor is necesary for tying stuff on the table to the table frame.

[Deadwood]

Ah, that's how I thought it had to be done, just like everything else you want to esd protect....they don't sell one with the cable, I guess they figure it will rest on the conductive mat....I prefer to keep all that on a shelf near by.

My other concern is the shelf life of the conductive plastic drawer bin...5 years for $43 CDN...I should be able to find or make and all aluminum or steel drawer bin and ground it or maybe the bin would dissipate the static charge with it's own mass?....after all it's only dissapating static charge in the air....I'll still be grounded through the workbench when reaching for parts....then there's no need to replace it after 5 years.