[Al Skierkiewicz]

Indie,
The combo switch you are showing can have the ability to switch the outlet or to have it hot all the time. I am guessing that this switch lives in an electrical box on the side of the table saw and it has a long cord to plug into the wall. It is this plug that sparked and melted I am guessing?
You will notice in the middle photo that the two terminals have a jumper between them. This allows you to tie the black wire from the line cord to one one of the screws and feed power to both the switch and outlet at the same time. (making the outlet hot all the time.)
You will notice that the screws on the opposite side of the switch combo have a silver (nuetral), a brass (hot) and a green (ground) screw. If you wire the line cord black wire to brass and white wire to silver on this side of the switch, then the outlet will turn on/off with the switch. (NO wires attached to the side with the two terminals connected with the brass jumper.) The condition you describe (spark and melt) is an indication that the switch was wired in a way that produced a short across the power cord. If you do not have a three wire line cord, now would be the time to change that as well. Green in the cord to the green terminal on the switch. I would recommend that you spend a little additional $$$ and get a power cord with #12 wire, minimum to maximize the power delivered to the saw.
Let us know if this is the way the saw is powered. (wall to combo switch to outlet to saw)