Electronic – anti-static top for a workbench

esd

I have a general purpose workbench that I would like to use for electronic work. It currently has a wood top, which I would like to protect (think varnished butcher block).

I have a small anti-static mat with wrist strap to use when working with sensitive components.

I would imagine that some sacrificial materials which I could use to cover this 2 x 4 foot bench are more ESD safe than others. Is this a factor I should consider when selecting what to lay down?

This is for home/hobby use but all the same I would like to follow best practice provided the cost is not excessive.

Whis is generally used for the top of ESD safe workstations? What would you recommend for hobby use that is reasonably low cost?

Best Answer

Butyl Rubber - effective, low cost, easy to use:

Choose any three :-).

Butyl rubber sheet, as used for roof waterproofing and similar, is cheap compared to "proper" antistatic mats. The rubber contains carbon black which provides the conductivity.

Here they shipped large bales of it with a wrapper sheet on the outside which they sold off very cheaply. I bought several square meters of it and it has served very well.

Any sort of conductivity at all will work. 1 megohm per square is fine.

Care! - Very low resistance material is potentially (pun intended) dangerous as it can short to equipment under test or repair. Steven's metal sheet could be very exciting in some cases :-).

I understand that some linoleum flooring works OK. As acceptable resistance can be so high as to be hard to measure, testing with a very simple electrostatic generator would work - as simple as some materials which allow static charge to be produced when rubbed together. If it will discharge electrostatically charged items almost instantly it should be acceptable.