basic electrical work

First of all I wired my whole shop, Even wired my welder for 220 and have other electrical experience. I have done this before, here we go.
I wanted to wire up a junction box with a switch and 2 plug sockets for my reloading station, basic 110 volt 15a I wired the main wires to the plug then, did three small legs to the switch. Plugged in it and the breaker blew. So I go outside and check the breaker. The breaker is a 20 amp. I have only a small florescent fixture plugged in. What I think is that this house is wired wrong because when the breaker blows only half the room goes dark. The computer and the lights on the other side of the room stay on, but the other half goes dark also the room goes out too.

never mind, I figured it out, there was a defective switch in the circuit, problem solved. Wonder what drunk wired the house though, its only 25 years old.

I look at what is done in my house and wonder the same thing sometimes. I'm surprised it has not burned down.

yeah but, it still doesnt work right. I can have a closed circuit but, when I try to turn it off by switch, it blows the breaker.

Could you have wired in a bad outlet or something that is already shorted?

I dont know how, all this is brand new from the home depot. I get power from the plugs and the light works but, if I turn it off by switch there goes half the room. I can unplug it and im a ok. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a switch though.

Draw out a schematic for what you did and let me take a look at it and see if I can help.

I used this to confirm my work

http://www.electrical-online.com/wiringaswitchedoutletpowertoreceptacle.htm

The only reason for a breaker to blow is a short or a short to ground, or an overload. You'll have to do some more checking and see what you did to it.

I agree. I have the main ground on the plug followed by a traveler to the other ground on the switch. Thats how I always done it.

I don't know. This is going to be one of things you can't fix on the net cause you can't look at it. I can't figure out where it went wrong. I'm working on a new shop building myself, hope I don't run into any problems when I wire it up.

heres a basic mistake that I made. Only one hot wire will connect to the plug. Not to the switch also, if you do, your defeating the purpose of the switch. The common and ground goes to the switch.

So you found the problem then. That's good to know. And yes, that would seem to screw things up if you wired it like that.