A 'Safe' Investment: A Foot Operated Tablesaw Switch

It's not easy to find a 'safe' investment in this economic climate, but here's one. Lately, there has been some discussion on one of the newsgroups I belong to regarding table saw safety and new products related to that issue. Tablesaws are inherently dangerous, but one product we installed a couple of years ago has proven to be both well liked and extremely useful. I think it has contributed to safety in our workshop. It's a small switch you can screw to the floor that allows you to turn the saw off (only) with your foot. The ones we have for our 3HP, single phase table saws are by Clipper .... Alan, in his comment below points out that the link I had previously posted here was not for the correct switch. I got mine through my tool supplier, Akins Machinery, in New Hampshire. They are also available directly from Linemaster and you may want to talk with your supplier to make sure that the switch you're buying is correct for your saw motor and does 'off only'. Lateley, I've been wishing I had one on every tool ... A great investment and a relatively simple do-it-yourself hookup .... I wish I had about 7 or 8 thousand to buy a couple of Sawstops for the shop, but I don't just right now ........

I left the post below this one up for a week undisturbed, hoping to get some traffic to our new Guild Of Vermont Furniture Makers Blog .... It's up and running now and it seems we have daily new posts happening ... Check it out if you have a minute ...


The switch is right there where you need it

Click to enlarge