I have metal ESD safe solder station (852d+) . Can i clip a metal pan and use it as a ESD mat? What about a bracelet?

 

I have metal ESD safe solder station (852d+) . Can i clip a metal pan and use it as a ESD mat? What about a bracelet?

bobby500 Answer is yes if what you clip the pan to is electrically grounded just so you know cuz ESD safe solder stations sometimes ground just the tip! If you wear ESD protection bracelet just make sure it's connected to ground through like 1 megohm resistor which is good enough for ESD protection and also limits current to 120uA in case of accident! Cuz if it's connected directly to ground and you touch anything connected to hot side of line it's instant CHAIRSVILLE!

 

The purpose of an ESD matt is not just to prevent charge build up on the matt but to provide a slow discharge path to ground for sensitive parts that contact the matt. If the pan is grounded you won't have the second purpose covered. A high impedance resistor, ~1 megohm, from pan to ground is better than a grounded pan, but not as good as also having a distributed, high resistivity (~ gigohm), impedance across the surface of the pan - as in an ESD matt. I have seen matts as cheap as $15 - forget the pan.

 

The purpose of an ESD matt is not just to prevent charge build up on the matt but to provide a slow discharge path to ground for anything that contact the matt. If the pan is grounded you won't have the second purpose covered. I think a high impedance resistor, ~1 megohm, from pan to ground is much better than a grounded pan, but not as good as a distributed impedance across the surface of the pan - as in an ESD matt.

DGelder That's a good point! So Bobby500 if you're on a budget you can just use weakly grounded black foam