Here’s a cheap and clever idea — use one of those disposable anti-static straps you can get for a couple of bucks to create an anti-static home base on your desk that you can touch often to ground any charge you might build up. Submitted to us by MAKE subscriber Rob Severson of CircuitGizmos Labs. See more of Rob’s workspace in my latest Toolbox column.
Antistatic Desk Strip
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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.
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What a great idea, and so easy to attach to the desk. Static electricity can be a real problem for me. I never thought of putting in one of those strips. Thanks for the post!
I just go wash my hand and dry off everything but my wrists.
This has worked for me for 25 years and never a blown chip.
I really don’t understand owning one of these unless you live in the desert or in a place where it stays below -10 for more than a week in the winter.
When the weather gets dry, every time I touch something metallic I get “stinged” – a small but annoying discharge of static I pick up from the chair in the office or the rugs or whatever.
This looks like it could solve the problem!
Thanks!
…or you can become an engineer. I hear that engineers are immune to static electricity.
Engineers are generally well grounded in their discipline.
*groan*