Puckdropper wrote:
"C & E" wrote in
:

Many of my old Craftsman power tools have the switches going bad and
they don't carry them anymore. Most of the stuff is from the '60's
and early '70's - circular saw, scroll saw with the rotating blade
shaft and a nice small router. I am mostly interested in the scroll
saw because it's the best of the three. Actually, come to thinkof
it, I can replace the router switch with a standard SPST electronic
switch (think, your first car's dashboard with the under-dash
lights). Is it salvageable?



I recently cut out the old switch on my lathe-turned-sander. To
control it, I hooked a 20A light switch to a duplex outlet (also
20A--most stuff is 15A) and connected a plug to the other end. Now
rather than messing with a bad on/off switch, I've got a good light
switch. As a bonus, I can plug the vacuum in to the outlet and turn
them both on at the same time.

Something like that might work with the scroll saw, where it would be
in the same place all the time.

A light switch is probably OK for a scroll saw but be aware that they are
derated for motor use--a 20A Leviton industrial switch for example is rated
for 1 HP at 120v and 16A max motor load (fwiw you can find the Leviton
industrial catalog at
http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ibcGe...minisite=10021
or http://tinyurl.com/yzslmh7.

Grizzly has switches intended specifically for power tool use for under 20
bucks that are rated for 2 HP at 110V and up to 35A.
http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2009/Main/243 and
http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2009/Main/244

Puckdropper