How To Make A Grounding Wrist Band.

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In my life i deal with lots of sensitive electronics every day and frying these electronics is a big
concern when touching them. Most people think its hard to fry electronics with static electricity.
Its not, one touch could send your $100 graphics card down the drain if you aren't properly
grounded. Do you really want to risk it for the sake of ~$2 in parts?

In this instructable i will show you how to make a grounding wrist band from some basic
electronics that you probably have lying around, if not, its a few bucks.

=================================DISCLAIMER====================================
Anything demonstrated in this instructable is for educational purposes only.
I cannot be held responsible for any injury or death caused by the information on the
following pages.
=================================DISCLAIMER====================================

Step 1: Materials You Will Need.

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The things required for this instructable are:
1. Some kind of wrist band. A piece of paper will do, i used a strip of rubber.
2. Aluminum foil. Not too much, enough to line the inside of the wrist band.
3. Adhesive. To attach the foil to the band, i used double sided tape.
4. Alligator clip. Doesn't have to be one but it makes stuff easier. Wire will do.

Optional Stuff:
1. Extra wire (to make it longer) Curly phone wire is awesome for this!
2. 1 mohm resistor (for safety if you want it)
3. Mains power plug with wire coming off it.

Great project!! Thanks for sharing. I totally sure that it is in hundred times cheaper than to buy it in shop. And even more I can't find something similar. I guess famous producers make such things but imagine, there are no something similar. I found here http://hardware.be/dehn but it is just surge protectors!

The construction details are great!However, your comment that the computer must be plugged in for grounding to the case to work is fundamentally incorrect. Grounding to the case works because the electrical potential between you and the motherboard is equalized via the case. Having the computer plugged in does nothing except create a risk that the computer is powered on without you knowing it. Grounding to Earth (via the plug method you suggest) is even more wrong as it is possible that your computer is not at the same potential as Earth. In fact, you've mixed these up, if you are grounded to Earth THEN your computer needs to be plugged in or otherwise grounded to Earth as well (such as connected to the grounding post, grounding screw, plumbing system, etc.)The best way by far is simply to connect to the case, then you are guaranteed to be at the same potential as the computer irrespective of Earth.BTW, the resistor also prevents the static discharging suddenly through the alligator clip. This could be important if working on something other than a complete PC.

Thank you for the guide. I wear a silver wrist band. I suppose it's not pure but it was made by a jeweler so I suppose it contains a fair amount. Do you think I could use it with the cord? Thank you.

The part where you use a mains plug to grown the strap is incorrect. the chance of coj6act with the live wire is too great. I would suggest either of these two alternatives.The harder option:Obtain a plastiv childproofing outlet protecter and replace metal flat peongs on cord with it. Easier, better option:Make use of the little screw in the middle of the outlet ifnyou have one. This screw is always grounded (in the US), remove screw, place bolt down wire aroind hole, replace screw, attach clip to small grounded wire. (this may be difficult to follow, but common sense would be to google "outlet grounded screw" and figure it out from there)

quick typo. you may want to use "in case" instead of "encase". I love the 'ible. i will definitely be using it. I need one to take apart my laptop so i can send the motherboard for reballing. Keep up the good work!

nice ible nuff said

 Awesome instructable!! I wish I made and used one of these yesterday when I was taking apart a computer and putting the parts in my arcade machine because I had taped some wire to my wrist then taped the other end it to my pc case. That was painful because the wire was poking me and my wrist was all red but luckily I did not wreck any of my computer components. 5 stars.

Thanks mate! I did the exact same thing when i was working on my server pc, i just got sick of it... when i was building my gaming pc, i bought a real one...

instead of the foil you could just use a coin (just thinking that the foil can not be very comfortable).

This seems a little impractical, considering it costs just as much to make one of these from scratch as it is to just buy one.  You can grab one off of amazon for like three dollars. Considering when you are working with electronics (more specifically, computers), a simple charge (as few as 10 volts) can mess up a component, you don't really want to trust a strip of fragile aluminum foil.  What you save (maybe, like, 10 cents in supplies), is not worth losing a 1000 dollar machine.

I know your point, i didn't really make this instructable for people working on 1k+ pc's, more people working with $5 mcu's like me that are lazy. When i get my parts for my gaming pc in a few weeks i know im gonna get a proper grounding strip for me.

 You cannot even feel a 10 volt shock, but it can cause severe damage to your electronics...

Alternate method: wear a watch with a stainless steel band, and clip to that.

Yes, but the problem with that is some stainless steel watches have a coating over them, so check if its conductive first.

I need to make one of this, nice work.