DO OR DON'T - cheap chinese ESD mats

[MrMetthew]

Hey guys,

I have been moving my lab to my new apartment where I have a whole room dedicated for it . One of the upgrades I'm wanting to make is more ESD proofness.

Can I just buy the cheapest ESD mats from aliexpress or the likes? Or do you really want decent brand ESD mats? Any other good places to order? I tried second hand channels but no luck yet.

I'm also questioning how hardcore I need to go for ESD protection, should I for example go for an ESD floor mat or is that a bit overkill for a home lab?
How do you guys do it ?

[mmagin]

It is entirely possible that the cheapest ESD mats don't do anything at all.  Unless you have a means to test the surface resistivity (of both the front and back, some are built in two layers), I'd stick with a small mat from a trustworthy brand if I had to save money.

[Ian.M]

Also cheap ESD mats are commonly made of vinyl and are only slightly more heat resistant than a bar of chocolate.  If you are working on a board directly on the mat and a component pressed against the mat gets too hot while soldering, it commonly will scar the mat, and an accidental touch with a hot soldering iron bit will melt a hole right into it.  The better quality mats have a heat resistant rubber surface that will even resist soldering temperatures for a couple of seconds without more than slight discolouration.

There's also the funky Chinese plastic odour to contend with.  Some would describe it as ranker than dog shite in a busy enclosed bus garage on a hot day.  If you are unlucky enough to get a particularly foul example, even a month airing outside may not be enough to make it tolerable in a room with little direct ventilation.

[tszaboo]

Floor mat is overkill. You would need an ESD chair, clothing, constant cleaning, and everything else to make it work.
I did a quick search for esd mat on aliexpress. Iactually think most of them might be the genuine article. On the other hand, I dont like ordering rubbery-plasticiy stuff from china, as they usually have horrible smell for a long time. They can even make simple stuff, like a USB cable smell bad.

[RoGeorge]

Baught this one from AliExpress. It's rubber based, antistatic, matte, heat resistant, chemical resistant, poiercing resistant, easy to clean, cheap enough (about 30 USD).
I like it. The smell can be washed away: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/anti-static-mat-smell/

[mmagin]

For what it's worth, I've ordered this off amazon: http://a.co/e5ulU3P and it tests okay with my cheap surface resistivity tester (iirc, 10^5 ohms on the back, 10^8 on the front).  It's a lot less than the name-brand stuff anyway.

I plan to use it as a floor mat.  It does require attaching a grounding wire to it somehow, I plan to be cheap and use a small bolt+star washers.  I don't use a chair, so it's either bare feet or footwear with a heel-grounding strap.  I tend to forget to put my wrist-strap back on

(Edit: while I've come to trust my cheap chinese surface resistivity tester, I'm thinking of designing something easy to build based on a sub-picoamp bias current opamp that attaches to an existing DMM to give reasonable readings that one can trust based on the design and inexpensive tests that can be done with cheap components, since it might be helpful to others.)

[Simon]

There's also the funky Chinese plastic odour to contend with.  Some would describe it as ranker than dog shite in a busy enclosed bus garage on a hot day.  If you are unlucky enough to get a particularly foul example, even a month airing outside may not be enough to make it tolerable in a room with little direct ventilation.

Even reputable companies like RS sell these. I just returned one with a note asking them how they could live with themselves.

[RoGeorge]

I washed mine and the small has gone in couple of hours. Here is how: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/anti-static-mat-smell/
If you don't wash it with vinegar and dish wash detergent, the smell is unbearable, and it will last for months.