Reddit mentions of The Dust Deputy DIY Standalone Anti-Static Cyclone Separator (The Dust Deputy DIY)

Something like this but cheaper may be good as well. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JP315K

You could always get him a Dust Deputy, people f'in love those things! Plus made in usa is something most woodworkers like.

I just replaced the shop vac in the pic with a dewalt one


DeWALT Portable 4 gallon Wet/Dry Vac https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BYHM9NK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_d6ESDb49YJWZQ

And the dust deputy

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JP315K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_p7ESDbJGQV34M

http://smile.amazon.com/Oneida-Molded-Dust-Deputy-Cyclone/dp/B002JP315K

Replace the switch. You can get good quality switches at Ace Hardware. Make sure you get one that supports enough amps on AC.

You can then hook up a Dust Deputy to any drum or pickle bucket you like to keep the shop vac's filter from clogging as much.

I had to do a double take to check that I didn't post this last night without remembering.

I am going through this same process with the 10x14 attic space above our bedroom. I started off with Plan B and tried a few different methods. Filter bags filled up much too quickly and would have been expensive but they did a great job of containing the mess. I have a Dust Deputy attached to my vacuum which helped, but inevitably, the shopvac would get clogged with insulation that made it out of the vortex. My most recent adaptation was to attach the dust deputy to the top of a 40 gallon airtight drum I bought from amazon and then use some old pantyhose around the shopvac filter. This greatly extends my times between either emptying the shopvac or emptying the 40 gallon barrel. Inevitably the shopvac gets filled first but the pantyhose does a great job of keeping the filter in usable shape.

I did buy a Toro leaf blower/vacuum and it worked well but I didn't have an airtight container at the time so the fine insulation would just blow out from under the lid of the trash can I was using. If you have ANY holes in the tubing, you will have a dusty mess on your hands. I plan on retrying this method on the remainder of my attic in the next couple of weeks. If/when it doesn't work adequately, I will buy some insulation bags from Amazon and that should finish the job for me.

https://www.amazon.com/Deputy-Standalone-Anti-Static-Cyclone-Separator/dp/B002JP315K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496112200&sr=8-1&keywords=dust+deputy

https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-1601MB-Polyethylene-Lever-lock-Capacity/dp/B0025QI4XC/ref=pd_sim_328_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0025QI4XC&pd_rd_r=TWYG0J54TB8HRJBXHVX3&pd_rd_w=L9VJ6&pd_rd_wg=DlIiD&psc=1&refRID=TWYG0J54TB8HRJBXHVX3

I'm not going to try this(or I might) but I think if you daisy chained two dust deputies and two drums, you would be absolutely fine with a shopvac.

I also made the mistake of failing to consider the difficult in mixing the Green Fiber cellulose bales without their machine once I had removed the old insulation. I only needed 7 bags for above our bedroom but man was that a PITA. I used a concrete mixer attached to my battery powered drill and managed to get in a great rhythm but having the machine would have been a million times easier.

My dust deputy was $60(ish), the dustopper is $40. The better performance seemed like it would save money in consumable bags or filters pretty quickly. I think in your case what I mean is, if you go with a seperator instead if the HF collector, dust deputy clears more fine dust and will be less likely to leave you with the same problem.

Duststopper comes with a hose, deputy does not. Both need a bucket. So thats a price consideration.

Here are links to what Im referencing.

Video that convinced me dust deputy performed well enough to be worth the extra money:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XsCVcx2O0u4


Dust deputy for $60
https://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Molded-Dust-Deputy-Cyclone/dp/B002JP315K/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549253233&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=dust+deputy&dpPl=1&dpID=312x3hJXq1L&ref=plSrch

Dust stopper for $40
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dustopper-High-Efficiency-Dust-Separator-12-in-dia-with-2-5-in-hose-36-in-long-HD12/302643445

Also consider that you’ll need a bunch of 4 inch hose and fittings / adapters for the HF collector.

If you're going to sand indoors, use a sander that has a vacuum port along with a shop vac or other vac, and most importantly a dust deputy and a 5-gallon bucket. The Dust Deputy is a cyclonic separator, it gets 99% of the particles out of the air before the air goes to your vacuum and the remainder go in the filter there.

Amazon sells the cyclone alone for about $50.

But I've seen some DIY options that cost just around $20, like this dude's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqGtyCthVQs

http://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Molded-Dust-Deputy-Cyclone/dp/B002JP315K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450308208&sr=8-1&keywords=dust+deputy

On top of a bucket with a tight sealed lid, and hooked up to:

http://www.amazon.com/ArmorAll-AA255-Utility-Vacuum-gallon/dp/B003M2F7NI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450308251&sr=8-2&keywords=shop+vac

The cyclone separates the bulk of the dust/debris and drops it into the bucket below so it doesn't wind up in your shop vac, which extends longevity of the vac as well as makes the time between emptying much longer since it's now the size of hte bucket not the tiny little vacuum.

Of course you could always make the blower yourself too but it'll be hard to beat a shop vac in price efficiency.

ah yes a dust separator

Cyclonic dust collectors are very much worth the trouble. They save you an enormous amount of headache, and keep your vacuum's suction high enough to carry away the chips you're making.

The one you linked looks like it would trap medium sized particles pretty well, but with mostly straight sides, and the funnel down at the bottom, the vortex might not get going fast enough to spin smaller particles (like MDF fines) out of the airstream.

If you're not married to the idea of DIY, the Dust Deputy is an awesome option which works very well to clean your airstream.

Good Luck!

First, the dust bible. I know at 4" hose you can only pull 349 CFM. Smaller the hose the less the possible airflow.

Second, Festool makes a great vacuum but IMO it isn't the right choice here. For the money, they don't move a ton of air.

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Simplest choice - get the Harbor Freight Dust Collector for $170

$170

It pulls about 750 CFM at 5" hose. At a 4" hose you can only get 349 CFM. Go smaller and you drop even more. Won't be super quiet and not HEPA

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OR

• Vacmaster 8 gal HEPA filter, fairly quiet- $190
  
  
• Cyclone - $50 and connect it to
  
• this container - $30
  
  Total = $270