Is it worth it for 35 watt machines to have an anti-static mat?

[Tonya]

http://bostonelectrolysis.com/article_a.htm (this webpage talks about electrostatic discharge)

http://bostonelectrolysis.com/article_42.htm (scroll down to near the bottom, where there are photos of the floor and the top of the trolly/worksurface).

One of my machines is 35 watts. Frequency: 50-60Hz. Max available RF output: 0-2 watts. Load resistance: 5k ohms. Main fuse 1 Amp anti-surge. DC output: 0-15 volts at maximum current 35 watts. RF output frequency: 13.56 MHz.

The other machine I have doesn't say the # of watts, but it says 50-60 Hz, 95-125 Volts, 1 Ampere. RF output frequency: 13.56 MHz.

I didn't bother to read those two above links (I'm a painfully slow reader). I was hoping someone else could read it for me and tell me if it's woo-woo or legitimate science.

Should I bother spending the money on anti-static mats?

 

[davenn]

I didn't bother to read those two above links (I'm a painfully slow reader). I was hoping someone else could read it for me and tell me if it's woo-woo or legitimate science.

Should I bother spending the money on anti-static mats?

It's legit .... antistatic mats (grounded) bleed off the build up of static charges that can, when a discharge occurs, damage sensitive electronic circuits
I have installed antistatic mats on every workshop bench at every place I have been employed in where I dealt with high tech sensitive circuit boards and components.
The build up of charges can generate many 1000's of volts

You may decide not to put them on the floor at your work station, but having them on the bench, trolley etc is very important so that your gear and your hands
are in regular contact with the mat to discharge any build up of static.

Now this is really a low humidity climate problem cold dry winter days, hot/dry summer days

The tropics don't really suffer this problem to any great extent because of the high humidity of the air
But it still wouldn't hurt to have a mat installed with your gear to safely discharge static buildup
It's much cheaper than having to buy replacement gear


Dave

 

[Electronic Tek 1970]

The benefit for floor and table anti-static mats is to keep static under watch and control. I was taught by my job in Telecommunications. Tile and bare floors generate 15,000 volts. Carpet generates 30,000 volts. I use a static-mat for computer building. I saw a cheap price one from Newark for $51.94 or so. Also the metal snap on the anti-static mat can be either female or male so pay attention to that for the ground strap. I used a standard 3 prong plug to ground my wire to a power strip. Using the ground connector only. CMOS technology is sensitive to static. The way I look at it. Do I want to damage a 2,000 dollar computer and have to pay the customer back. Are damage my repairs and feel like I didn't accomplice my job has a engineer.

 

[dave9]

Your pictures show a metal cart. Assuming it is bare metal, you don't necessarily
need to add an anti-static mat to bare metal, just can't put anything insulating between the equipment and the metal (and similarly cannot put anything insulative between the equipment and an anti-static mat).

The metal cart alone will do fine if you merely connect a wire from it to the ground point you would have used for the mat, plus a small, inexpensive resistor in series with the wire, around 1 megaohm. You can just drill a hole in the cart and use a screw or bolt/nut to attach the wire.