In article , "toller" wrote:
You can use that 240v outlet, but I don't think it is a good idea to put a
small tool on what is probably a 40a breaker.

The breaker is for the protection of the wiring, not the tool that's plugged
into it.

I would replace the breaker
with a 15 or 20a and replace the outlet with an appropriate outlet. That
the wire is too big is good.

That's NOT a good idea. The wire used in a 40A circuit is too large to be
adequately secured in a 15- or 20-amp receptacle.

A much better idea - IF, but ONLY if the existing circuit has both a neutral
and a ground - would be to use the existing circuit to feed a subpanel, and
branch new circuits off the subpanel.

Motors drawing over 15a @ 120v should be wired to 240v.

So who has a motor drawing over 15A? He said it's a true 1HP motor. 1HP =
apprpox 750 watts = a little over 6A at 120V.

They will draw half
the amperage, so voltage drop is smaller, especially with starting. It is
not really an issue with your jointer, which is probably only 10a UNLESS you
will also be running your dust collector on the same circuit. Then you
should rewire one to 240v just to get them on separate circuits.

There's really not much point in doing that, unless the two of them together
would overload a single 20A circuit.

Are you
following me, or am I too tired to be coherent? You basically want to avoid
running two tools on the same circuit (at the same time of course). If
rewiring will prevent that, then rewire.

There's nothing wrong with running two, or more, tools on the same circuit at
the same time, as long as the combined load doesn't exceed the capacity of the
circuit.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?