Shop Vac Cyclone???

The sawdust is finally getting to me. After the last couple of projects I had sinus trouble, sore throat, headache, etc. Not a coincidence as I had been sanding for a couple of hours a day!!!! My dust collection efforts up to this point have been minimal at best. I cannot spring for a dust collector at the moment and really do not have the space. I ditched the old shop vac for a Ridgid WD1450 (amazingly quiet compared to the old screamers I had!!!) but couldn’t see spending the money for a Dust Deputy. I have seen several guys making something similar to this and thought I would give it a try. I am not nearly smart enough to talk flow rates but this thing works. I hooked it up and started sucking the dust and pieces from the box below my table saw and could hear pieces start to rattle in the bottom of the bucket. Opened the vac up and there was maybe a 1/4 cup of dust in the bottom and lots and lots more in the bucket. I didn’t document the process because I honestly didn’t believe it would work. I think Bill Pentz is the guy responsible for all of the science behind the cyclone so here is a link to his site – http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/Index.cfm

Construction is sheetmetal, screws, liquid nails and the tops and bottoms were 1/2” plywood cut with a jig saw (wood working part of project). I used so much of the liquid nails that I had to paint it to cover it up. We had just finished making some wooden pumpkins for Halloween so enter the orange color. It was just fortuitous that it matches the new Ridgid vac. The side piece of pvc is angled slightly downward and the top piece goes into t depth about 4 inches bellow the side. Again this isn’t science but what I had seen elsewhere!!! Thanks to everyone who posts there genius so the rest of us can piece it together with normalcy!!!