"Boden" wrote in message
...
blueman wrote:
To avoid voltage drop (and power loss) at startup, I want to make sure
that the power cord to my 15 year old Craftsman table saw is 12 gauge
(or upgrade it if it is not).

There are no markings on the cord and no reference in the manual. The
saw is long discontinued so Sears is no help.

So is there any simple way of determining whether cord is 12 gauge or
not?

Thanks
Measure the resistance. 14 gauge is 60% higher than #12 so it should be
easy to do.

Almost no home owner will have a meter that can measuer the differance in
the resistance of 10 feet of # 12 and # 14 wire. It would be the differance
of about .0159 and .0252 ohms for 10 feet.

Good thought , but impractical for almost every one.
It would almost take lab grade equipment to do that.