I have spent quite a bit of money on this project (for me anyways) and I dont want to buy an esd mat & wrist strap if I dont have to.

I was wondering if I could use something else as a mat to work on and just strap my wrist with some wire that would be connected to something metal. Could someone help me out with this?

It may sound a little lame, but hey, this is DIY right?

As long as you take reasonable precautions, you ought to be okay.

1. Ground yourself. Keep a handy ground source within reach at all times while working with the monitor.

2. Keep grounding yourself every and any time that you walk away from the work. Make sure that you ground yourself again when you walk back to the bench.

3. Use common sense. Don't wear wool, or polyester clothing while working on the LCD. Cotton clothes build up less static.

4. Avoid dry conditions. A bit of water misted into the air beforehand will keep the static down.

5. Be prepared for mistakes. No matter how careful you are, it's always possible to forget, and it only takes once. You may have to live with the consequences.

I have taken apart alot of computers. Handled alot of motherboards and memory. I have not zapped anything yet. Knock Knock! That was the wood I was knocking on. Just like SupraGuy said. Always touch something that is grounded before you pick up something.

Also, when handling the boards try not to touch the ICs on the board. Handle the board by it's edges. It doesn't take much static electricity to pop one of the ICs plus you don't want to get your skin oil on the boards.

If you are still uncomfortable just get a grounding strap and wear it while it is grounded to something. I personally think the mat is overkill.

I’m no expert in the field of very large scale integrated semiconductor design but I have got a reasonable knowledge on general electronics. What I do know is that most integrated circuits are static sensitive so the designers include on all input and output pins a limited form of protection. It’s basically a diode that shunts the static electricity to ground. So electronic boards that are designed to be removed would probably have this type of protection. This is only just a thought but maybe the custom ICs used in LCDs have had this protection left out to preserve space and to cut the cost of manufacturing. I don’t think that the designer would rate this protection high on their priority list when the FCCs are meant to be permanent. But I could be wrong.
I personally don’t use static wristbands, maybe I should.

DJ

Thanks everyone for your advice. It helps alot. I think I will either just make or buy some type of grounding wrist strap. I'm not going to worry about the mat, but I was wondering about what should I use to lay the LCD on when I'm disassembling it?

And heres a funny question that will probably gets a few good laugh, but I would actually like a serious answer.

If wool and polyester conduct alot of static electricity, but cotton is less than conductive, then what if before I stripped the LCD, I stripped my clothes off and worked on it naked

I know it sounds funny, but will a human body conduct static electricity? Or is it our clothing? Or maybe it could be our hair as well?

Well if you stripped your monitor naked at least you would have somewhere to attach your ground strap

Wool and polyester do not "conduct" static electricity. In fact they don't conduct at all, which is where the build-up happens. Certain materials are simply much more prone to the CREATION of static electricity. The human body, for the most part is conductive. Conductive materials (metals) generally do not build up static electricity, but will allow it to ground out.

For a reference, do a web search on static electricity. This site has some basic info.

So the answer is that working naked would effectively reduce the risk of damaging your panel with static electricity. (Though your hair can generate static -- that's how you make a balloon stick to the wall by rubbing it on your hair!)

NOTE: It takes several thousand volts before you can even feel a static "zap" -- a discharge much smaller than you can feel is still more than enough to damage or destroy many semiconductors. Be careful!