Stopping a table saw by turning off at the outlet

Question

I have the much-maligned Makita MLT100 table saw. For all its faults, after a fair amount of fettling I've got it working fine.

However I've taken to stopping the saw by turning off the switch at the wall. This has a few advantages:

1. It turns off the shop vac connected to the same outlet.
2. It triggers the safety cutout plug I use (so simply switching back on doesn't actually turn on the power).
3. It means I lean AWAY from the saw to stop it, rather than bending down and in TOWARDS THE SPINNING BLADE OF DEATH to turn it off.
4. I have three young children around, and it's a 3-step process to start the saw:
   • Turn on outlet.
   • Turn on safety breaker (at which point the shop vac will come on, as it was switched on all along).
   • Start saw using green button on the saw itself.

I've found that the green/red power switch on the saw itself appears to turn itself off when power is cut (this makes sense - in the case of power coming back after a power cut, you wouldn't want your table saw starting itself back up!), and the brake still kicks in as normal.

Question is - is there any potential for trouble using this method? Either a danger I've not thought of, or damage to the equipment I haven't considered?

Answer 1

Not a problem at all, generally speaking. I would ensure that the switch you are you using is properly rated for the load so that it doesn't arc when you trip the switch. A light switch is probably not the right switch to use here. And as a general disclaimer, if in doubt, check with a licensed electrician.

Many tools use magnetic switches, which as you noticed, unlatch when the power is removed in order to prevent them starting up again in events like short power outages.