[voltsandbolts]

Bump! Still waiting on that feed back from Joe... tic toc tic toc...

[mod-rn man]

Just wanted to add a link to a woodworking forum showing a small DIY cyclone system that works with a shop vac (use the larger 2 1/4 hose models)

http://lumberjocks.com/SimonSKL/blog/10097 (my name there is conehead)

I made one up myself for about $25 (I already had some DWV pipe & a 5 gal. container). Hooked it up to my radial arm saw and after going through about 6 sheets of particle board to make up 12 feet of 7 foot shelving for my garage, there was little to no dust in the shop vac.
I have not tried it out on mdf, and my cnc router is still in the planning stages, so I can't vouch for how well it works for really fine material. But it's way better than nothing and the price can't be beat if you're on a limited budget starting out.

Also a link to a small unit you can buy http://dustdeputy.com/

Cheers

[TSJ]

A pre maid metal cyclone for a shop vac.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cyclone-Separato...item414769481e

[mod-rn man]

Nice little unit. I suppose if you had to buy everything to make the one I did, it would come out not far from that price.

[Matt Clara]

For thoses out there who can't afford one of these units, there may be a cheap alternative. I recently purchased a shop vac from Sears. No big deal, except they now offer HEPA filters!

You need the hepa filter and the cyclone. Just the hepa and you'll be cleaning it on a daily basis, if not more, as it will soon choke on all the dust. The cyclone separates out the bulk of it, leaving the hepa filter to remove the fine stuff. That's my setup: 12 gallon sear's 5 hp vacuum with a hepa filter and a dust deputy: http://www.dustdeputy.com/ Works great.