Grounding Oneself

[ambulancevoice]

i know that Ic's (most anyway) are static sensitive, but that you should groud yourself before handling them
so what i did when i was handling my lm386 to install it, was held an empty aluminum enclosure in my hand while i used my other to install the ic

am i doing it right? or is there a proper way

[mcasey1]

Slide on down the local Radioshack and pick yourself up an anti-static kit.  It is basically a large anti-static work pad, with a conductive wrist clip to ground yourself to the pad.  Any static from your body is transferred directly through the easiest path to ground.  This case being the wrist clip.

[Pushtone]

That doesn't sound right. An empty box? Hows that grounded.

The best way is to use an anti-static wristband. Like this one...
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=32142&doy=5m6&C=SO&U=strat15
Where the clip is attached to GROUNDED metal.

Most folks just touch grounded metal just before handling but the wrist strap is better.

So whats grounded metal?
Water pipes in your home are grounded or "earthed"

The safety ground on the electrical outlet is also earthed.
So any chassis with a grounded power supply is earthed.
The un-painted metal chassis of a computer power supply is a good one to clip to, as long as it is plugged into the electrical outlet.

[R.G.]

Grounding yourself with a solid wire is like asking the electricity gods to come kill you.

The grounding wrist straps separate you from ground by about 1M or more.

The simple thing to do is to
1 - don't wear nylon or other synthetic clothes. Cotton does not generate static.
2 - work barefoot; no, I am not kidding. Simply doing this and wearing cotton will mostly remove the static generators unless you're working on nylon carpeting underfoot. If you have a hard-surface floor that's not rubber tiles, you're probably OK.

If you're really worried about it, go into your bathroom, turn on the shower with fully hot water, and when it starts getting steamy, do your work. It is impossible to keep static charges when the humidity gets over about 60-70%.

[hairyandy]

If you're really worried about it, go into your bathroom, turn on the shower with fully hot water, and when it starts getting steamy, do your work.

Ummmm...we're still talking about making pedals here, right R.G.?



Sorry, just couldn't pass it up.  I need to get off the internet...

Andy

[widdly]

Cheap carpet and synthetic clothes seem to be the main offenders.  We used to use anti-static foot straps at work.  Sometimes I'd forget to take it off and wonder why I was getting strange looks on the way home from work. 

[ambulancevoice]

i did read somewhere that you can just hold on to a piece of metal to ground yourself

so if i touched one of my metal chassis pedals, it would ground myself ? 
im probably going to have to get the anti static wrist strap and the carpet that the straps ground connects to

[hairyandy]

For what it's worth, I've never given any thought whatsoever to the possibility of harming an IC or any other part with a static charge and so far I've never had an issue that I know of.  I've built lots of pedals with opamps and I've never encountered a bad one yet.  My workbench is in my basement which is a pretty constant 70% humidity so maybe that has helped, but I don't think you really need to worry that much.  I would just touch something metal to discharge the static electricity before you grab the IC if you think it's a problem.

Andy

[ambulancevoice]

For what it's worth, I've never given any thought whatsoever to the possibility of harming an IC or any other part with a static charge and so far I've never had an issue that I know of.  I've built lots of pedals with opamps and I've never encountered a bad one yet.  My workbench is in my basement which is a pretty constant 70% humidity so maybe that has helped, but I don't think you really need to worry that much.  I would just touch something metal to discharge the static electricity before you grab the IC if you think it's a problem.

Andy

opamps are very static sensitive, so you can handle them normally
i was handling amplifiers, which are more static sensitive then opamps

[petemoore]

  I don't know that I had trouble with Mosfets, I'm even more certain I've never had trouble handling all other components, must be moist or lucky around here.
  I used the foam IC holder lately [poke any chip legs in the foam], then either insulated pliers or handling only the body of the chip when inserting it into the socket.
  I used to bend the mosfet legs around, bare handed, then socket w/ no zener G/S protection.
  Latex gloves?

[boyersdad]

I have an ESD wrist-strap that terminates with a banana plug. I added a banana/binding post to the front of my computer (underneath my workbench), and hooked it up to a nice sanded spot on the chassis, so I can use the strap, or put bare wire into the binding post if I need to ground something other than myself.

[Pedal love]

I have destroyed static sensitive stuff, but I think it was less a product of my body and more of the malfunctioning soldering iron I was using.

[anti-idiot]

pretty cool info. i live in Lima - Peru, and we have 93% of humidity (I am NOT kidding, we almost breath water...), so i guess static is gone.

[GibsonGM]

Ambulancevoice:  " so if i touched one of my metal chassis pedals, it would ground myself ?  "

No, because: "pedal ground" in a localized circuit is not the same as earth ground!  You're basically standing on a metaphorical platform above ground and playing with 9V circuits...all the while, that 'ground' up there could contain much more potential than the earth below you.   It's good to think of "earth ground" as ABSOLUTE ground.  Circuit ground is relative.   True, you might gain ground contact at the amp when it's all plugged in, (you should) but that's not 'sure enough' for me to trust.

Remember how birds can stand on a power line and not get zapped - unless they contact the earth? (or the return line, but let's keep it simple).   Same deal.  A piece of metal won't ground you unless it's 1) conductive and 2) in GOOD CONTACT with the actual, bona fide EARTH.  Or a wire properly connected to Earth - such as the water pipe trick mentioned above.    If your plumbing is not done right, or you have a fault in your outlet ground, those won't be grounded either.  R.G. mentioned the  Megger size resistance in the wrist straps...that's a safety to limit current that can flow through you, and is a really good idea!

Maybe do a search on Google under Basic Electricity, and read up on this stuff - it's really good to know!  Keeps you safe )   Good question, and one that used to totally mystify me, too!  Not that I know much more at this point, ha ha ha. 
)

~Mike