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I use an old vacuum cleaner for dust collection when using power tools. Namely: sanders and my circular saw. I got sick of turning off the power tool then racing over to the vacuum cleaner to turn it off also.

The solution was to make a device that senses when the power tool switches on, and in turn switches on the vacuum cleaner. I added an adjustable time delay from 1 to 30 seconds before shutting off so it clears the hoses of debris. I also added a sensitivity adjustment as my power tools draw different amounts of current.

I made the switch using an Arduino Nano, current sensing module, relay module and a few other miscellaneous parts. The Software was written in the Arduino IDE running on a 12 year old Linux PC. (Lubuntu)