Ray Pike's Page

Ray in being fair to craftsman and their switch your problem is most likely not the switch but because the saw and the dust collector are on the same circuit.  Since it is a 120 volt saw and a 120 volt dust collector on the same circuit it is overloading the circuit.  It is most likely fused by a 15 amp breaker and most likely wired with 14 ga wire.  Your initial start up of the saw and the dust collector motors pull too much current and thus shuts the breaker off.  I'm sure you know not to change the breaker rating as that would definately result in a elecrical fire.  To be truthful,  I am surprised that they have developed the tool as it causes too many of the same problems you have experienced.  The person not knowing better then goes to the breaker panel and increases the size of the breaker.  In my travels with building and remodeling to do cabinet and woodwork I have seen about every combination that you can imagine from speaker wires to power switches to lights and appliances up to seeing 30 amp breakers on a 14 ga wire which is double the rated amount for the 14 ga wire. ( your wire will be on fire long before the breaker thinks about tripping off)

This is the beauty about the switch that I posted about,  as it allows your tools to be split seperate from the dust collector circuit.   In the plans I have it shown how to wire it to run on a 120 volt as the trigger to start a 240 volt dust collector.  It can also be used to run multiple tools and yet turn on the dust collector on using a different circuit.  The circuit can be either a 240 volt or a 120 volt or a combination of the two.  The good thing about it is that it is enexpensive to make and yet safe providing you have at least the understanding of electrical basics.  Basically what you are doing in this system is using one circuit flow that is sensed by a sensor and in turn powers a relay to turn on a different circuit to power the dust collector.  The circuit you are using can be a 120 volt sensed circut flow to your tool such as your saw and its flow activates a relay that then either can turn on a higher voltage such as a 240 volt or a 120 volt circuit.