cheap antistatic mat for workbench??

[rickrcomm]

looked on Digikey but most seemed to start at $60. Anybody find a good one to assemble projects on that is less expensive?

Thanks,

Rick

[adafruit_support_bill]

The ones marketed for office equipment are not too expensive.http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/142765/StarTechcom-24x26in-Grey-Desktop-Anti-Static/;jsessionid=0000PB2axKxr8YRBFQSyQ7ud0HW:13ddpq53l?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Google-_-Computer_Upgrades_and_Add-Ons-_-142765

[pm6041141]

I would never claim an antistatic mat is not necessary. But I will say I have never broken anything by static discharge. But I do touch something that is grounded before I start work.

[westfw]

Piece of coregated cardboard sprayed with antistatic spray or painted with graphite paint? Unfinished wood?
Aluminum cookie sheet?

Hang out at some high-tech site an there will likely be no shortage of pink anti-static packing foam that they have to pay to throw away. (trash disposal is by volume rather than by mass, so foam is ... annoying.) But you can buy it as well...

[charliex]

esd protection is just like insurance, you don't need til its too late. and you'll find plenty of people that say theyve never needed insurance.

unfortunately sometimes esd damage is not noticeable until afterwards, it can reduce the lifetime of a chip.

just look at any fab house or computer oem to see if its needed, its no different there.

[Batou]

A component damaged by ESD will not always fail immediately.

A component damaged by ESD may be partially functional. It may only cause problems in certain conditions.

This is pretty cheap:
http://www.elexp.com/ant_asw1.htm

[AdShea]

Keep a look on eBay. I got a 30"x5ft mat for $20. It's got a few solder flux marks but it works quite well.

[ljeung]

westfw mentioned an aluminum cookie sheet. How about any rectangular sheet of metal?

In any case, how should an antistatic mat be grounded? At http://www.esda.org/esd_fundamentals.html, the Electrostatic Discharge Association (ESDA) recommends connecting the mat to what they refer to as an equipment ground or the third wire (green) electrical ground connection, such as the center screw of a standard electrical outlet, via a grounding cord with a ring terminal. Can a 18-22 gauge wire be used as a cheap grounding cord? Should there be a resistor (1 MOhm) connected between the mat and the grounding cord? And if an outlet has more than one screw, such as an outlet with four or six sockets may have, can any of the screws serve as the grounding point?