Hi Rooster, And everyone else..
A few months ago i bought myself an affordable heat resistant ESD mat from banggood..here's the link
https://www.banggood.com/Green-Desktop-Anti-Static-ESD-Grouding-Mat-50x60cm-For-Electronics-Repair-p-976515.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CNI payed approximately €15,00 for it that's arround $18.
Like Rooster i tried everything to get the smell out..it's permanent storage was outside hanging from my balcony railing and once every couple of days baking in the sun i would turn it towards the sun and rotate so every side got an ample amount of UV.. then came the first soapy water with vinegar soaking session.. then outside again for a few weeks.
Then i tried to go pro on the mat.. searching how to remove rubber smells i stumbled on a mixture of soda+vinegar+menthol oil and i added some clothing soap for good measure..left it over night turning it every few hours in a large bucket...then left it outside in the sun to dry aka bake a bit..
And the smell is still there.. it's so strong that if you leave it in a decent size room the whole room smells of sum chemical rubber ..not just rubber like bicycle tires but more chemical...
Besides the smell how do i know if it works ?? it is somewhat burn prooof i hit it with my iron on 300C and beside sum small marks it's ok..
Question is does it work?
using my Lidl multimeter and brymen probes i see that the green side measures 0 ohms no matter what i do with my probes..
The black rubber side is a different story...when i try to puncture the black rubber side with my leads i have to keep them there for a while before i measure something fluctuating so i think it's conductive ?? But when i lay my probes flat on the mat dark side giving the probes a bit more service area i get a better reading.. if i rub them a bit it jumps to 14ohm and if i keep them 1cm apart flat i measure between 2 to 3 ohms it jumps around sum times get between 12 to 16ohm..
looking around i realized i'm not using the correct tool to measure the resistance..
buying a tool to do so can be rather expensive there are sum cheaper tools still for one time use can be a bit waist full.
This tool does seem like it could measure resistance. (used tinyurl because the aliexpress links was 514 characters )
https://tinyurl.com/yaqusbphi contacted Banggod and they offered me €8 in return so i waisted €7 not a big deal..
big question i cant seem to get answered is do i need to fork out €67 for a Elme 157Kit 60*90cm from tme.eu
https://www.tme.eu/en/details/as-b60x90bg/esd-workstations/elme/157kit-6090-beige/Mat-to-earth resistance 5...500MΩ
Ground cord resistance 1MΩ
Ground cord length 3m
Resistance to most of oils, most of chemical compounds
Max ambient temperature 440°C
Discharge time <34 ms (5000V-50V), <9 ms (5000V-500V)
Surface resistance 5...500MΩ
Length of the lengthen coiled cord 1.8m
Resistance of the coiled cord 1MΩ
i tried to answer the question myself but it's rather hard to do so.. as soon as you dive in to ESD it's a whole world in it self..
one could argue that if you are like me just doing sum practice soldering sum mechanical keyboard DIY assembly sum laptop cleaning perhaps a pc build here and there a esd mat might be overkill ?? or is it ??
Does the cheap solution help ?? or is it save security not really helping ??
please advice... anyone..