How To Make A Grounding Wrist Band. by SmAsH!
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====================================

 
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Step 1: Materials You Will Need.

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.


Isaac Laserman says: Oct 7, 2012. 8:12 PM
nice ible
nuff said
qazwsx755 says: Mar 2, 2010. 3:57 PM
 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.
SmAsH! (author) says: Mar 2, 2010. 9:17 PM
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...
TechGadgetSteve says: Jan 20, 2010. 10:16 AM
instead of the foil you could just use a coin (just thinking that the foil can not be very comfortable).
Doctor What says: Jan 13, 2010. 1:05 PM
 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.
SmAsH! (author) says: Jan 14, 2010. 8:28 PM
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.
Doctor What says: Jan 13, 2010. 1:09 PM
 You cannot even feel a 10 volt shock, but it can cause severe damage to your electronics...
CameronSS says: Dec 28, 2009. 10:48 AM
Alternate method: wear a watch with a stainless steel band, and clip to that.
SmAsH! (author) says: Dec 28, 2009. 3:30 PM
Yes, but the problem with that is some stainless steel watches have a coating over them, so check if its conductive first.
brunoip says: Dec 28, 2009. 6:43 AM
I need to make one of this, nice work.
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