"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote in message
. 3.70...

"DoN. Nichols" fired this volley in
:

It is at least a *possible* one.

Don, I'm not picking on your answer... I had to respond to someone's, and
yours got the prize...


This is the dumbest discussion I've ever heard (short of all the
political spew on here).

Even half-quality garbage plastic switches from China are NOT prone to
accidentally 'switching on' from accumulations of dust or swarf.

That it's a remote possibility, I won't deny. But such switches typically
serve for years to decades without a malfunction in the dusty, dirty,
swarf-filled environments in which we use them, and it's dumb to think of
the average home craftsman's going to the trouble to re-wire, retrofit,
and otherwise jigger-up his equipment with low voltage contactors and
safety circuits. That some would or even could is beside the question.

This discussion should be turned to "What's the best-quality switch I can
buy affordably that will suit the safety needs of the application." For
that, I recommend a good industrial-quality safety-style switch that
requires a simple swipe of the hand to turn off, and a positive 'de-
locking' action to turn on.

My old (1970s) Shopsmith came with one. When I finally wore it out in
the 1990s, I replaced it with the same-quality switch from a US maker
(IIRC it was a Square-D safety switch, specifically for table saws). You
could knock it off easily, but had to pull the bat out manually to turn
it back on -- heavy-duty thing. It lasted more than 20 years of nearly
daily use, and the replacement is still on the machine, still working.

LLoyd


The AC switch that was used on the table saw that became permanently turned
"ON" was a standard house hold light switch that wasn't sealed. The saw
dust accumulated behind the contacts inside the switch casing. When the saw
was wheeled in and out of the garage, the saw dust pushed the contacts
closed. When I cracked open the AC switch it was literally stuffed full of
saw dust. I replaced the switch and covered up all openings in the metal
box that the switch was mounted in.

Shaun