It's easy to understand why dust collection is less of a problem these
days. Researching the topic on the Internet takes so much time you're
not in the shop inhaling all those fine particles!

After going through Bill Pentz' excellent site and several hundred
postings, I still have a few questions (surprise!). I apologize if they
have already been answered a dozen times over.

1. Cyclone without a filter
The wood whisperer's shop uses a Cyclone that's vented to the outside.
Of course, he lives in the desert in Arizona....nobody can tell you're
venting dust. Let's say I joint and plane two 8'x6" boards...does it
look like someone ate a dough nut with powdered sugar, or is it more
like Pompeii after the volcano interrupted? In other words, how visible
is the smaller dust that isn't caught by a good cyclone?

2. Cyclone inside, filter/ bag outside
The weather here (NC) is fairly mild. Venting to the outside would
mostly be a problem in the summer because of the heat (and A/C loss) I
was thinking about putting the cyclone inside, with a Y-connector to the
bag. The bag would be outside, the other end of the Y capped with a
rubber plug. Only on very hot or very cold days I'd bring the filter/
bag inside. Has anyone done this before? With a good filter, is this
extra customization worth it?

3. DC as air cleaner
No matter how good, no DC system can get everything. Adding an air
cleaner would probably be a good idea, but isn't the DC also an air
cleaner? What if you open a few blast gates after you're done making
sawdust, turn on the DC, and let it run for a few hours? Wouldn't that
clean the air? You'd want to use gates at opposite ends of the shop, of
course. Or, is this going to be such a wear on the DC motor a window fan
is better?

Thanks!