In article .com, wrote:
I'm new to woodworking, and thought I'd try here for advice first.

I just inherited my grandfather's tools, and one of them is an old
Uniswaw. It's down in my basement now, and I would like to hook it up,
but all the outlets down there are two-prongers and the saw is
obviously three.

If I were to run a piece of wire from the cabinet of the saw over to
one of the exposed water pipes, would that be enough grounding for me
to be able to safely cut-off the third prong?

No. If you do that, and a ground fault occurs in the saw, you would electrify
the water pipes. It is *never* safe to ground a circuit to interior metal
water pipes.

It also is not safe to cut off the third prong.

Also, if this is safe, how big a wire should I run? (The saw is 110
volts, BTW)

First off, are you *sure* about the voltage? I thought Unisaws were all 240V
(but I could be mistaken about that).

Second, wire size depends on *current*, not on voltage. No offense is
intended, but if you didn't know that.... you shouldn't be trying to do your
own wiring. Especially since (as you said in a later post) it isn't your
house.

Check the rating plate on the saw's motor to see how much current it draws. If
the motor is really 120V, and the circuit can carry the current that the motor
needs, then you can ask your landlord to replace one of the receptacles with a
ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). That will accept your three-prong
plug, and provide ground-fault safety even if the circuit isn't grounded.

--
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?