How can I saefly make a direct ground point for my ground strap? I was thinking going to home depot and buying a spare appliance cord. 2. putting heat shrink tubing over the hot and neutral wires 3. putting it in a plastic project box and then soldering the ground wire to a big metal lug for my groung strap to clip on. is this a safe way?
What kind of wiring system do you have in your house/apt?
Have you confirmed that the grounding terminal in your outlets is actually connected to ground?
If it is, and you have metal boxes, I would almost rather ground to a box itself than through a cord, where it relies on a wired connection. You could attach a small piece of copper pipe hanger strap behind the mounting strap of the receptacle, (using the receptacle mounting screws, and trimmed so it doesn't contact anything else, of course), and leave a tail hanging out from under the cover plate to attach your grounding clip to.
Remember that the primary objective is to limit potential difference between you and the static-sensitive components you're working on. "Earth ground" is a secondary concern.
House was built in the 1800's but completly guted/rewired with 200 AMP service spilt to the six apartments in 1999-2000 Each with its own sub panel
I'd use a megohm resistor in between the ground and the strap. That way, if you touch something with line voltage on it, you will get less of a shock current thru your body. And the megohm resistor will drain away any static charge.
If you are working on a computer or other piece of equipment your wrist strap should have an alligator clip on the cord, simply clip it to the metal case. If you are working at a bench doing something like circuit board work you can connect your wrist strap cord to a receptacle ground using a bananna plug which will fit the in ground terminal ("hole") perfectly. Try Rat Shack not Home Despot.
The wrist strap should already have a high value resister in series with the cord to prevent electrocution.
[This message has been edited by hbiss (edited 01-11-2004).]