# Automatic switching on power sockets ?



## glynster (17 Jan 2015)

I have the festool dust collector that I use for my festool mitre and track saw and by far the best feature of it is the fact that it starts up the dust collector automatically and immediately the second you power up your tool by plugging your tool into the power socket on the dust collector. That got me thinking, surely there must be some after-market version of this to automatically turn on my axminster chip collector when I run my table saw or P/T - save the faff of turning them both off and on for every actuation.

Is there such a thing that works by delivering power to your dust/chip collector when you power up your power tools? I'm guessing it would be something like a twin extension socket unit that simply switches on both sockets when power is drawn from one of them - have googled it, can't seem to find anything.

Anybody heard of anything like it?


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## ayuce (17 Jan 2015)

I saw as DIY electronic projects, not sure if there is commercial product. But remote controlled power switches should be available. It will be easier to find.

edit: smtg similar for living room : http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Conserve-S ... B003P2UMQ2


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## Scottdimelow (17 Jan 2015)

Here you go, I use one of these with my sander. Works great, plus it has surge protection.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004 ... ge_o01_s00


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## Phil Pascoe (17 Jan 2015)

Dimmaz88":22gut22w said:


> Here you go, I use one of these with my sander. Works great, plus it has surge protection.
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004 ... ge_o01_s00


That switches off the other two outlets - but does it switch them on?


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## Scottdimelow (17 Jan 2015)

It switches on the slaves when power is drawn from the master. If you plug the power tool in the master and the vac in the slave, it detects when you turn on the sander and powers up the vac.


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## Phil Pascoe (17 Jan 2015)

Excellent - the blurb only says it switches them off.


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## DiscoStu (17 Jan 2015)

I have a master socket tv energy saver socket thing and it works brilliantly. I've made a post about it somewhere.


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## glynster (17 Jan 2015)

Excellent - I agree the blurb only says it turns off the slaves when power stops flowing to the master but if you're sure it also works to turn on the slaves when the master draws power then thats exactly what I am after thanks. Struck me it might not be available commercially since it could be quite dangerous in the wrong application or if used unknowingly on some appliances.

It'll be bliss since I cant stand the sound of the dust collector running constantly in such a small workspace and because I have a small shop I have to climb over things to get to it whenever I want to make a cut - truth be told I end up not bothering for a lot of cuts on the table saw so this will be great.


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## Phil Pascoe (17 Jan 2015)

Of course, it's only 13 amp so you'd have to be a little wary what was plugged into it if everything kicked in at once. (afaik)


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## Ghengis (18 Jan 2015)

you could always use a remote switch, i have a set of these from maplin
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/remote-contro ... pack-n79ka


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## shipbadger (18 Jan 2015)

I know this is veering slightly O/T from the OP's question but can I just add that I have two sets of remote control switches, the set from Maplin and also a set from Tool Station. I bought the Tool Station set first and when I wanted more realised that I could have problems with turning on or off more than I wanted so hoped that the two types worked on a different frequency. Why you may ask did I purchase? Well one set is in the model railway shed so we'll ignore those. Two reasons, my Jet extractor is at one end of the workshop and I always seemed to be at the other end when I wanted it on or to turn it off. Secondly although the Trend T30 I use for hand held tools has an auto switch I invariably wanted to use it as a vacuum cleaner to clean around the job after routing, sawing or sanding. I got into a very bad habit of holding the tool in one hand in the air and turning it on so that the vacuum worked - do not do this at home! I realised that this was a recipe for a potentialy serious accident. Now I can just pull the hose off the tool, clean up, pop the hose back on and turn off the vacuum.

Even further O/T, there is currently a safety recall on Record AC400 Air Filters. If you have a filter mnufactured before mid 2013 and you registered your warranty you should have been contacted by Record. If you didn't bother to register you may need to contact them.

Tony Comber


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## davin (18 Jan 2015)

I bought one very similar to the Maplin one shown above from Lidl.

Have used it for three years non stop on my panel saw/extractor. Cost £5 from memory.
Would definitely buy another one when they reappear.

davin


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## Scottdimelow (18 Jan 2015)

Yeah it definitely turns them on, I use it for sanding with a henry at work (decorating). It was meant to be a quick fix until I got an extractor with a tool socket, 2 years later and it's still going strong.

Woodworking is my hobby but I still spend more on it than work stuff


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## DiscoStu (20 Jan 2015)

I have a master / slave socket and it works brilliantly. I actually have 2 x 6 extension leads plugged into it and then all of my machines plugged into that. Whenever I switch on a machine the vac starts up. I also built a "dust centre / hub" so you open the blast gate for the tool that you want to use. 













Move labelled all of the blast gates and all of the plugs. One thing I am likely to do is add a light that is remote controlled. The idea being that I can switch on the light with the remote and that will switch on the vac. I have a light on my pillar drill for this but at the moment I have to switch it on manually. A remote would be ideal when using hand tools that are connected to the dust extraction.


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