How to Set Up an ESD-Safe Workbench 

One thing I failed to mention in the video is that both the wrist strap cable and the mat cable have a 1M resistor built-in. That's important because it prevents any accidental discharge through that cable. In addition to that, a few people like @Cyborgdelta1 and @Mark Singleton also pointed out that it's safer to have the earth cable also have a 1M resistor (in case something goes wrong in the wall plug or even some accidental contact in the terminal I screwed on to the bench). There are also pre-made earth connectors with the 1M resistor built-in like these: cpc.farnell.com/antistat/070-0021/euro-esd-plug-1x10mm-2xb/dp/SA03649?st=earth+bonding+plug so I'll be getting one of those soon. Thanks for pointing that out!

Nice video, I like how you decorate your technical assistant ;) Great Team!

You had a piece of mat from the part you cut, where to do the soldering iron tests :-D Anyway, great video. I have to buy one like that too.

Great video Noel! It's definitely time I invested in a better ESD-safe setup so there's some good inspiration here 😃

Thanks for the vid 👍 was going to say about the 1m resistor, but saw it below 😊

nice job Noel.. i need to invest in an ESD safe space!

Interesting video Noel. I have nothing like this at all, which is probably why I break more stuff than I actually repair. 😁

Awesome video Noel

Love it, excellent job Noel :-)

She was absolutely cute. Thanks for the ESDS info, there are a lot of new electronic hobbiest coming up. I wouldn't worry too much about matt damage

Very helpful

What a great and educational video!! I have a Kaisi repair insulation pad that look just like your except mine is blue. I love your setup with the green ESD mat and want to set up a station like that. Question, If I set it up likes yours and then put the repair pad on top, is the repair pad also grounded or would that be defatting the purpose of the ESD mat?

Smart using your smaller spokesperson to demo the point :-)

You have the most cute lab assistant :)

thanks helpful video!

I am sure it has been said somewhere below over the last few months, but there are types of ESD matts that are a lot more heat resistant. They don't easily melt at soldering iron temperatures. The heat gun will still overheat and damage them rather quickly and at the very least discolor the matt. I learned that and often use a silicon matt on top if I am using the heat gun. They can't take pushing ic legs into them, xacto knives etc, but they are fairly resistant to damage from dragging a board across them. Don't put a board on them and push an ic into a a tight socket though.. The other thing is they tend to discolor. Browning over time, kind of like old plastic from the 80s etc, some things do stain them. IPA has a little effect but nothing dramatic. One time some computers with very cheap nasty black rubber feet were set on the matts at work and it left permanent brown stains (feet were quickly removed and thrown away, these were brand new cases not old rubber going bad). Dave's video mentioned in the pinned comment I am sure probably goes over a lot of that, it has been awhile since I watched that one.

Hello Noel, the black carbon type foam is great for short periods of time but can corrode terminals if stored in humid area. Best to use the pink ESD foam for component storage.

16:30 A mat is a consumable; its purpose is to protect the workbench and provide a safe surface. (In theory, you could dispense with the mat and get an ESD-safe workbench instead.) They also provide a slightly soft surface that can help protect your workpiece. I certainly wouldn’t get annoyed at it getting scuffed up. You should see the mats in real world electronics labs: they’re always scuffed, marred, scratched, and have minor scorch marks. That means they’re doing their job! :)

1:33 I've NEVER considered "reverse ESD"... you've got a great point there. I've got a mat, which is always in place.... but always forget my wrist strap because that needs some thought but the mat is "just there". :/ It always annoys me when they ship chips in white foam because it looks to me like it's "ESD generating" rather than ESD safe.

Hey man. Great video. Sounds like you made a mistake or two and a lot of commenters were quick to point that out. Nice to see you take the criticism with humility. As for those ESD comments you flashed up... don't focus on those. As your channel gets bigger you'll get tons of one line 'r/iamverysmart' comments from morons who would rather just carp from the sidelines. Most of us enjoy what you do and don't feel the need to critique and nitpick, especially seeing as every minute of footage you create probably took you an hour. Don't give those trolls too much credence.

I get the impression that the intended use of that bracket is to be bolted on the underside of the desk, or if you want it to the side where you put it, bolted on the *outside*, like an L-shape sticking out to the side if that makes any sense. That way the rubber cover and the contacts won't interact with the furniture at all.

Also, if you are handling MOS in the rain ... it is all right:) And if you think that to the end: Service work in your bathtub, submerged with diving mask, ist the most sensible handling of our beloved metal-oxide friends. Hehehe BTW that is unusual, but true. And if you take it with a grain of salt, then the conductance will further improve:P Thank you for the video:)

If your soldering tip is grounded, do the IM resistor too.

Great job! On ESD, I thought the 1MOhm resistor you find in those connecting cables would be enough to prevent a shock even though your desk is not ESD safe - so when you just wear the wrist wrap. It doesn't hurt of course. Definitely make sure you have that 1MOhm resistors on both lines otherwise in case you touched something charged, it would discharged to ground too quickly causing potential damage. Now I think about it, the mat is probably slow in discharging anyways - you measured Mega Ohms with your meter - but your wristwrap goes straight to earth so that needs the resistor IMHO. Curiously enough, my ESD mat is slightly conductive on top as well. I am indeed not sure I should put anything live on it...

Would this work well as an electrostatic dissipation solution for underneath a CNC router?

@7:50 what did you measure the other end of the probe to? The ground pin on the wall?

Me personally, I don't care if the mat is of a low quality. It's better than what I currently have which is nada. Would you be willing to provide a link to the one that you bought along with the other ESD items? BTW: it's really cool that you got your daughter in this video. Reminds me of when my 2 daughters were at that age. (My eldest is about to turn 18...)

How connect the Manpower with ESD grounding through wrist band series or parallel ?

Maybe my idea is silly or just too much, but besides the "main mat" I have some leftover, which is also grounded, and I often use that piece to put on the "main mat" when doing something which can result damaging the mat, so at least then I ruin only that smaller piece. But again, I may worry just too much ... As it looks really sad in my eyes to have a very "worn" mat. And btw, I liked the demonstration assistant :)

The banana plug seems JUST large enough to make proper contact when inserted into the ground hole of a north american NEMA plug. Obviously it isn't specifically made for that, but if you're looking for a portable solution (i.e. for occasional things like PC building), it seems like that might work.

I was going to ask if it was ok to wear around your ankle and you already answered my question.

I'm 73, and have been working with electronics since I was 9. I've *NEVER* used a ground-strap, and have *NEVER* blown a Chip!!

slide the wristband up to your elbow.. get a thick piece of aluminum, a half foot cut of half inch sheet, or similar. Acts as a heatsink, you can solder on it as it electrically conducts to your esd surface, solder won't stick to it and you can wash excess flux off it.

I remember years ago I static'd an AWE 32 soundcard.. it was annoying as it had 32 mb of ram on board and was tricky to get a new one

So if I have a silicone mold that has a lot of static built up in it, will this dissipate the static? or would I need a grounded work bench for that?

40 dollars to save priceless, irreplaceable retro machines is well worth the price of admission!

I know Dave at EEVblog has recommended some very durable ESD mat material, but that stuff is quite expensive.

Hello, the earth connector that you have that one with the button's an banana plug have an issue, make sure that the button part is connected with the banana part because I have they same one and I found that problem and I fix that running a wire to connect them together and remember to add at least 1M ohm resistor in the process of fixing that issue

Why didn't you test the soldering on your offcut piece?

Hi, can connect mat and wire band directly to the ground with alligator clips without banana splitter? thanks

Do your wrist-strap have a built-in a 1M resistor? because you should have one somewhere along the line, and I don't see it on that black attachement 5:38

what was that board you had at the end of the video. memory, chips, some winbond chips (i/o?),...

Can I use any chair to sit and work on the ESD safe station the way you built yourself?

where did you buy all the components for this?

Isn’t there supposed to be a resistor in line with the ground?

The more expensive ESD matt material is much more resistant to high temperatures and surface damage so yes you can improve on that. Regarding the 1M resistor, our "high end" ESD gear does have a 1M resistor in the ground lead and we use a plug with an external ground screw lug. It would be a good idea to pop a 1M resistor into that lead to your mains ground as Mark Singleton said below. As I said, well done and a 100% improvement over not doing anything at all, like many know-it-all (head in the sand) RU-vidrs and prominent makers cough #adafruit...

I bought a much more expensive mat from a reputable seller (Farnell). My experience with scratches and heat damage were exactly the same as yours. I think the material they are made from is generally not durable. Also, if you are doing any hot air work, you must go back to your silicone soldering mat. I ended burning a very big hole in my ESD mat when I used the hot air gun.

amazon has some good esd silicone mats dont burn or stain

With that type of mains socket, where are you located? I don't understand what is hot, cold, and ground there. Can you plug a socket either way with that system? 73 DE W8LV BILL

Well check Dave Jones. He has a good video about ESD mats - the better ones. I watched long time ago, so I cannot clearly remember ... but I recall they were expensive. I think he was saying something like the blue ones are good

Please tell us you did not put a o-ring wire terminal just on top of the earth block, right in between and just a mm away from the live mains terminal. One movement of the attached wire terminal and it shorts to live and your grounding wrist wrap has becom a live wrist wrap. There are adapter plugs (with or without a megohm resistor) that are all plastic but the earth connection, terminating in a banana plug. Or at least use the original terminals of the sockets, where the attached wire goes. There is always room for 2 wires there and its in a save (-er) spot. Like this, its a catastrophe waiting to happen.

A question ? You actually had a chip damaged by a electrostatic discharge, when you are manipulating a chip or a board ?

Thanks for the interesting video Noel. I have made some research and it seems that the ESD mats and the alcohol are not good friends. It seems that it may affect its conductivity and render it useless... Certainly disappointing taking into account one of the main uses of an ESD mat is electronics handling and IPA is always involved on that.

The last bit about ESD safe chip storage... Shouldn't you use ESD safe plastic containers too then? Those black ones, because the container will still build up a charge and charge your chips even better now that they are in conducting foam. Once you pick them up with your wrist band attached or put them down on the ESD safe mat, they will discharge and get damaged, right?

flashing the ankle there! better watch you don't get the youtube indecency police onto you!

Informative and useful, and feature your cute daughter.

Noel, do you just buy gear from no-name suppliers on ebay, or do you recommend a particular source ?

Is an assistant your daughter? Sunny she is) Greetings from Ukraine :)

Nice informative video, except.. my OCD wants to know why you did not use the off cut for your temperature test. hmmm Lol.

Hi Noel. If you want some of the pink ESD foam, where I work, it just gets disposed of. I can let you have some for free, if you pm me (each sheet is about 20cm square by about 5mm thick).

8 euro?!? Where did you get it! I cant find ANYTHING that cheap over here!

I just watched a grown man destroying his brand new mat punching it with the soldering iron. He was even picking the right spot to do it. lol

EEVBlog #585

Oh oh ... I spotted an injury. Soldering iron incident?

I feel like an idiot, I bought a pretty expensive soldering mat, and it doesn't have ESD protection, now I gotta throw it away I guess

10 ++++++++++++++

rather than the strap why not have a ESD-Safe Floor Mat. that way when you sit at your desk your feet is touching the floor or seat

I don't have a small child strapped to my set up. Should I be concerned? I tried strapping my son to my mat, but he is 22 and quite big and started to become aggressive.

So you grounded your child for making this video?

Hello friend. If I follow these steps will it matter if my wooden table is on carpet? Thanks.