I agree with Phil. A white cotton chemistry lab coat is just a effective in real life. Dave Fish Phil Bavaro wrote: > More than I should divulge about ESD Smocks and testing...I'm sure I won't > make any friends with the ESD garment industry with this post, but there > are some things that you should be aware of....... > > I am assuming that you are not procurring the smocks with a quality clause > for meeting the EOS/ESD test requirements for smocks after laundering. If > you are not familiar with these requirements, then you should start there > first. Go find the spec and read it carefully. > > If your coats are like ours, you will discover that the junctions of the > separate pieces are not connected electrically (shoulder to arm, etc) > because that costs more money to make. > > You indicate a rivet is used, but is it used for each junction and is it > rusting out after laundering (I hope you aren't drycleaning them) etc. I'm > not too familiar with how they terminate Carbon Suffused Nylon (CSN) to a > metal rivet and still ensure conductivity long term, but yours might be ok > if you were to perform the correct test on it. > > If you don't have it specified in your garment procurement contract to test > the smocks after each washing, then you are getting what you are paying > for, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. > > Also, I am not aware of a heel and wriststrap tester which is set up for > testing smocks cuff to cuff either because there is no pressure applied by > just connecting the snaps. > > In my opinion, smocks are generally a waste of time for ESD protection > purposes, but we have always worn them because of the management aspect of > having uniformity within the plant. > > We rely on our esd shoes for the dissipation of charges from the operators > which has been shown to be superior or at least equal to any other method > and always more cost effective. > > The strands of conductors that you may see (usually a criss-cross pattern > of CSN) are indeed compensating for the raw garment materials which may or > may not be dissipative by itself and the cuff snaps are intended for > tightening up the sleeve opening at the wrist and not for connection to > test apparatus. > > Of course, our operators wear mostly cotton clothing and no one wears > nylons, polyesters and angora sweaters in San Diego. If they did, I might > be a lot more concerned about the quality of the smocks, testing, and the > level of protection that the smocks might provide. > > Also, if it helps, our smocks are not tested by contract and they would > fail if tested per the EOS/ESD methods as well because they do not have the > pieces interconnected. > > And yes, they are always yelling at me to close my smock as well. > > Phil > > At 12:22 PM 5/5/00 -0400, Lou Hart wrote: > >Technetters, got a question about resistance (or surface resistivity) of > >static dissipative lab coats. > > > >I've been pushing for people to keep their coats closed here, as suggested > >by several technetters a few weeks back. > > > >Now one of the operators tells me, Those lab coats don't work, I tried to > >measure the resistance and they are no good. > > > > > >So I went to our wrist and heel strap checker and found I could not get my > >cuff to cuff resistance to pass either wrist or heel check. It failed high. > > When I checked the resistance between snaps on one cuff, using a > >multimeter, I found 10-20 megohms. My coat is white with grey threads > >through it, the conductive nylon filaments, I guess. It's made from 4 or 5 > >or more pieces of material, like a lot of coats. There is a metal rivet in > >each sholder where 3 pieces of fabric come together, that looks like it's > >supposed to connect the nylon from the various pieces. > > > >Can anyone comment on my experience? > > > >Lou Hart > > > >############################################################## > >TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c > >############################################################## > >To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following > >text in > >the body: > >To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> > >To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET > >############################################################## > >Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional > >information. > >If you need assistance - contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or > >847-509-9700 ext.5315 > >############################################################## > > ############################################################## > TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c > ############################################################## > To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in > the body: > To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> > To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET > ############################################################## > Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional > information. > If you need assistance - contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or > 847-509-9700 ext.5315 > ############################################################## ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. 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