How to Use the Portable Anti-Static Mat

Written By: Alex Diaz-Kokaisl

Comments: 11

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

Time Required

1 - 5 minutes

Introduction

Follow this guide to learn how to use a portable anti-static mat.

Anti-static mats help minimize electrostatic discharge (ESD) when repairing electronic devices. They work in tandem with anti-static wrist straps to equalize the charge between your hand and the device.

Note: the iFixit Portable Anti-Static Mat comes with an anti-static wrist strap.

For more information on ESD, click here.

Tools

Portable Anti-Static Mat

Step 1

Unfold your anti-static mat and spread it out on your work area.
Make sure the iFixit logo is facing upward.

Step 2

Place the black grounding wire's connector over one of the mat's grounding nodes.
Press down on the connector until you hear a click to secure it to the mat.

Step 3

Attach the black grounding wire's clip to a grounded metal surface.
To ensure a good grip on the surface, pinch hard on the clip's levers to open the jaws wide.

How would I find a grounded surface? Where do I attach this to if I don't have a power supply? (i'm working on repairing a load of DS Lites)

Daniel Myers -

Mr. Myers, To be safe get a cheap wall socket tester to make sure the socket is grounded.

Then you can take a nail and put it in the alligator clip of the antistatic pad. Then push the nail into the grounded part of a three hole socket in your house. Not the top two slit holes but the round hole at the bottom.

bl dos -

Okay so what do I do in Germany then? I didnt know I need to spend extra 20€ to get an adapter and I also dont know how to test if something is earthed or not. I want to use mat for PC maintainance. As it's a selfbuilt and I was crafting it without a mat. I mean I was very cautious but I dont wanna risk ruining it. So I bought this mat for maintainance and now have to realize it's sadly utterly useless without spending more money. Seems a bit disappointing to me, especially since ifixit offer no proper explanation on how to earth the mat, they dont even send a User manual, so I even had to Google for a while to find out I need an adapter for this.

Hypercrit -

Step 4

Before you put on your anti-static wrist strap, remove any jewelry from your wrist and fingers.

Step 5

The anti-static strap should be adjusted to fit snug on your wrist.
Pull up on the looped end of the strap to disengage the plastic lock.

Step 6

To tighten the strap, pull the looped end away from the plastic slide.

Step 7

To loosen the strap, pull the main part of the band away from the plastic slide.
Re-engage the plastic lock before continuing.

Step 8

Slide the strap over your hand and secure it to your wrist.
If the strap is still too loose or tight, you can adjust it while it's on your wrist.

Step 9

Disconnect the strap's metal clip from the rest of the blue grounding wire.

Step 10

Insert the tip of the blue grounding wire into one of the black grounding wire's sockets.

Step 11

Place your device on the mat.
You're now ready for repairs!
Throughout the repair, keep the device centered on the mat to minimize ESD.

Conclusion

For other general electronics skills guides, click here.

Author

Alex Diaz-Kokaisl

Member since: 16/01/22

134278 Reputation

8 comments

What else can the mat be grounded to, as I don't have a metal desk.

Cringe_Master245 -

Hi there.

Technically, you can ground yourself to any large, metal object that is touching the ground. If you don't have any in your vicinity, then you can clip the wire to the middle screw in your outlet or plug the wire into the bottom-most ground slot in the outlet.

Alex Diaz-Kokaisl -

What can it be grounded to if I don't have a metal desk and am in Europe? There is no middle screw or ground slot, at least where I live.

Pyuukin -

Double check your outlets, it's possible that a ground adapter plug like the following one will work for you.

Europlug example:

https://eleshop.eu/esd-earthing-plug.htm...

UK example:

https://www.vodex.co.uk/product/esd-eart...

If you don't have any grounded outlets in your home, you might consider connecting your mat to a nearby radiator (assuming that your plumbing is metal).

Alexander Jadczak -

How can you flatten the anti static mat?

Charley -

Peut on se servir de la cosse d'une prise électrique pour la mise à la terre. Je viens d'acquérir un tapis IFIXIT PORTABLE Anti-static Mat avec bracelet et pince crocodile pour la mise à la terre

loulou - 25/10/23

I just purchased a couple of these anti-static mats from China. I put a multimeter lead on the surface of the mat and the other lead to the grounding snap on the mat. There is infinite resistance on the multimeter. The same thing happens when I measure the resistance of the surface of the mat a couple of inches apart. I thought the mat should be conducting electricity? I measured the resistance between the large grounding snap and the wrist grounding snap and it is approximately 1.3 mega ohm. BTW, I assume the grounding snaps are on the top of the mat when positioned on the desk, correct? When the snap-on nodes are facing up, the bottom of the mat is a black fabric and the top surface of the mat is a gray rubber-like plastic, that smells really bad like that of a new plastic shower curtain. Remember those? I had to air them outside when I got them.

Any comments?

TIA

Eskimo Charlie -

Hello! Yes, the mat should be slightly conductive. This prevents static from building up on the surface and allows any residue to dissipate in a very slow and controlled manner. The mat is rated for a surface resistivity of 10^7 - 10^9 Ω (10 megaohms to gigaohms), which may be out of range for handheld multimeters. Likewise, the resistance between the mat and a snap would equally high. This prevents uncontrolled static discharge from the mat to a ground point.

You do have the mat oriented correctly. The blue surface should be facing up. I think the material is vinyl based, so it has that smell. The material composition gives it the static dissipating property.

Arthur Shi - 30/11/23