Complete Electronics Virgin Question

[Shinede]

Hi,
I am looking at setting up an Electronics Workstation for my man as a Birthday present as he has expressed more than a passing interest in electronics theory and practice, being a completely girly girl I've got no idea of what is needed but decided to get the basic protective gear for him and the electronics to get him started when it comes down to it at present although I have been reading a lot on the internet I've got more idea about what is the best nail varnish to use than anything else.

I have been reading a lot about anti static this and that - ESD protection yada yada.

Thus far I've only managed to procure a small number of metal coloured anti static bags for storage and an anti static wrist strap.

What I would like to do is setup his workstation - an old computer desk he doesn't know he has yet with an anti static floor mat and bench top mats I've seen mentioned - what I don't understand is they have mentioned that they have a dome or stud for connecting them to something and what I don't know is what I am supposed to connect them to or how.

If someone could draw me a simple but clear picture of how to connect the floor mat and desktop mat and what to connect them to - I'd really appreciate it, if he maintains his interest ill probably end up learning as much about this stuff as he does. Oh and I presume although I'm not sure that at the end of it all there should be one connector left to hook this anti static strap into - or does that somehow connect to whatever electronic whatsit your working on?

Thank you in advance - any and all information will be appreciated - but please keep it simple I have no idea of all the technical words - yet:???:.

 

[pradeep.g.belchada]

you have to conect the antistatic mat to ground through one high value series resistor


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antistatic_mat see this link

 

[dsctech]

First of all, you're an awesome girlfriend/wife for doing this for him!

What kind of stuff has he been talking about? Component level repairing/tinkering?

If he wants to get down to the component level stuff, he will need a soldering iron (At least 60W), solder sucker (or desoldering braid), rosin core solder, flux, wire cutters, digital multimeter.

I would start out with that, just so he can get started and to make sure that he likes it. If he doesn't then you didn't invest TOO much into it

Good job getting the computer and anti-static stuff.

 

[ALERTLINKS]

As a matter of fact, after surviving a few electrical shocks, it automatically teaches you, how to avoid them. A few screwdrivers, wire cutters, soldering iron etc. let you destroy things fast. It is your pride about yourself which compels towards learning afterwards . Here learning books are good companion. A annual-subscription gift of a monthly magazine will remind of you for a long time.
It reminds me when I drew a schematics of an audio amplifier, in my school days, in a letter to her. That was some forty years ago.

 

[Shinede]

you have to conect the antistatic mat to ground through one high value series resistor


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antistatic_mat see this link

Thank you for the replay, I looked at the link and then had to go and find out what a series resistor was which I found here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor#Series_and_parallel_resistors
but you haven't explained a couple of things you mention it as being one high value series resistor, if what I read is correct it says that for you to have a series resistor there should be two resistors not one.

If that is the case is it meant to be that one has an extremely high range while the other is very low or are they both meant to be high or is the total when you do the math part supposed to be high, what value is considered high? - or have they cut class like a couple of naughty teenagers and are off to the local McDonalds after smoking the "naughty cigarette" and getting the munchies.

While your answer has given me some information - being that I know zero about electronics barring the fact that "static is the enemy" and now what series and parallel resistance is you need to be very very specific and spell things out for me.

Thank you for trying though.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi - thanks for the reply, I've added that all to my over time shopping list, the advantage with something like this in my opinion is that for birthdays, anniversaries, fathers day, xmas etc myself and the kids can get him bits towards his new hobby - if he continues on with it which I'm sure he will, he not the type to get into things half cut.

I don't know if you can call me awesome - just appreciative after the earthquakes in Christchurch he didn't argue one iota about packing us off for a while until they settled down a bit and gave me no grief whatsoever when it came to one event when we had two earthquakes in quick succession and my nerves got badly jangled. He got my bags packed for me, got me all organized and sent me two Australia for two weeks to take a break with some spending money while he stayed home, held down his job, took care of the kids and the house. I consider that pretty awesome and he did all that regardless of the fact that we couldn't really afford to do it.

This is not payback or anything, if anything it's a huge amount of respect with an overdose of love.

I have my eye on a Digital Multimeter thing at the moment it apparently has a 4Mhz scope built in whatever that is, it seems to have more abilities than the other ones I have seen and it's cheaper - although I know that doesn't necessarily mean better.

 

[Shinede]

Thanks for the reply I have amended my over time shopping list.

I've found a couple of books which I am considering but I don't know what his knowledge level is and don't want to come across as insulting his intelligence.

The forerunner at the moment is an Electronic book title called "how to test absolutely anything electronic", that may not be the exact title but it was one of the first things that popped up when I searched, the only painful part is that I will have to read it first just to keep up with him because he tends to drink knowledge like he does water.

After looking up Schematic I now know what that word means too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schematic

 

[betwixt]

First of all Shinede, as someone who was introduced to electronics by my father 50 years ago, I appreciate what you are doing for your loved one.

To explain the anti-static mat first, many electronic components can be damaged by the build up of static electricity. It's the jolt you get sometimes when the air is dry and you touch something metalic and although harmless to us, it can instantly kill some electronic components. It's all around us all the time but usually not noticable but can reach tens of thousands of volts quite easily, the amout of charge stored is very small and the voltage is shorted out (the jolt!) as soon as a path for it to do so is made. Many electronic components can only withstand a fraction of one volt so it's essential that a static free work area is used when working with them. I should point out that manufacturers generally do their best to protect devices so they are actually quite robust and after they have been fitted in a circuit there are usually paths through other components that stop static building up. It's only the handling and storage of parts before a circuit is constructed that you need to worry about.

I think the reference to two resistors is one for the anti-static mat and one for the person. For it to be safe the idea is that everything is connected and so there can be no voltage difference between anything that touches something else, including your loved one, the mat and the components. The industry standard is a "press stud" connector similar to the ones found on clothing and a thin curly wire to go to a grounding point. There is usually one on the anti-static mat and one on an elastic wristband that the user wears. In most cases, the resistor is wired inside the plastic moulding beside the stud so you don't have to worry about it yourself. The other end of the curly wires goes to a common ground point, usually the 'earth' pin of your AC outlet and you can buy special plugs that have no power wiring but several earth outlets specially for this purpose. If a connection to the AC mains outlet isn't possible, at least join the wristband to the mat and if it's a metal table, to that as well.

The resistor value is usually 1 MegOhm (one million Ohms) which is deemed low enough to safely leak static charges away but high enough that if the the user touches somethng 'live' the current to ground through their wristband will not injure them. I'm sure you can see the danger of wearing a directly earthed wristband and touching something live!

This should give you some idea of whats available, ignore the price, you can get them MUCH cheaper than the price shown: https://uk.farnell.com/duratool/mc35758/esd-benchtop-mat-wrist-strap-grounding/dp/1846677

Brian.

 

[Mattylad]

As nice as a digital scope with a 4m scope in is.... as a noob it may be overkill and easily destroyed.

Accurate but cheaper meters may be better for a newcomer as then when he make the mistake of using it on mains in ohms reading and fries it - there is not that much lost

What a girl though!

 

[liteon]

What an amazing girl shinede is. My fiance hates my hobby of electronics.
In my opinion you should get him cheap models of the things which are easy to destroy like multimeter and and other testing equipment as mentioned by other members in above discussion.But i think when it comes to instruments it is fair to invest in best quality ones,like soldering irons you should go for ones made by "Weller" or "GOOT" weller has a extensive range of soldering accessories. GOOT ones are very highly priced.It could be just a soldering iron and a stand with sponge for soldering iron, or even a temperature controlled soldering station(much safer to use).
A solderless breadboard for experimenting the circuits must be top quality as they could be subject to serious abuse by new users, they are available in a variety of sizes, single units or multiple units fitted together on a plastic or fiber plate with power supply binding posts.
And a Laboratory grade voltage and current controlled power supply unit like made by "B&K precision" they are reasonably priced,Those made by "Hewlett Packard" are the highest quality but prices are eye popping.
I won't go for generic Chinese brands when it comes to purchase these instruments they are subject to failures and risky as regarding the safety of users. Generic brand Chinese soldering irons can develop short circuits at the tips and no one would like to hold the solder wire while using those shorted out tips even if they are wearing ESD band.Also the tips are real crap will wear out after a short time usage.
And the cheap power supplies can easily go made and fry the whole circuit being developed or put the house on fire.
Cheap bread boards when subjected to abuse or mishandling can have broken inner connector grips and result and drive the user Nuts.What a waste of time it will be under such circumstances.

 

[tpetar]

Nice gift for sure is nice hot air/soldering iron rework station like this or similar :

**broken link removed**

or some nice devoloping system board.


Best regards,
Peter