Just ONE ESD mat? Pretty lame protection. There are so many
undereducated engineers out there that actually think that ESD is not a
problem.
He should have a conductive floor mat or flooring as well, and an
ionizer overhead or at least a portable one on the bench.
Households are typically pretty low humidity.
ESD gear is big business, and why most folks do not deck out their bench
all the way. They charge like the medical equipment industry does. Way
too fucking much for way too fucking little.
Also, ESD Formica sheet is easily available, and should have been the
choice here. That way, a soft, sticky mat is avoided.
If he did all that crap to the floor, he could have put down conductive
tile as well.
He probably could have gotten newer used gear on e-bay as well. Some
of that stuff looks so old, it would need new EL caps along with a full
re-cal to work reliably.
Also a bit heavy on the un-needed gear to engineer robotics circuitry.
I give it a C- for the lack of comprehensive ESD protection.
Were it not for that, it would get a B+
The guy looks pretty damned industrious though. Makes his own damned
injection molding set-up and molds. Daaaaaaaaaamn!