A few years ago, I made a couple of Thien separators. One fits on top of my 30 gal garbage can and separates before my dust collector on my table saw and planer. The other is retro-fitted to a Rockler Dust Deputy that developed a crack in the top.

In the 3 or 4 years since I've installed them, I've only collected about an inch of dust in my dust collector (most of which is probably from my miter saw that's not hooked up to it. I've emptied the garbage can as often as once a month, depending on what I'm doing. I made the large one from some recycled particle board, a few cutoffs of dowels, some Lexan I had sitting around and some 1 lb coffee cans that fit perfectly a 4" dust hose. I cut most of the curves and grooves with a router on a circle jig. It sits on top of the garbage can. If I see that theee chips are continually running around the Lexan, I know the can is full.

On the Dust Right, I simply reused the bucket and the hose connectors. It's baffle sits inside the bucket. One advantage with this is that if I accidentally suck up something, like hardware, I can open the top and get it out. Otherwise, I'd need to cut open the shopvac bag or call it lost.

I'd highly recommend making these

https://www.jpthien.com/cy.htm

3 minutes ago, kmealy said:

I'd highly recommend making these

Amen!!

I made mine from the same article. Used stuff I cobbled together from a box of fittings I got with the used Delta dust collector I scored. I can't remember when I emptied the dust collector bag- at leas a year ago.