Thread: Using a shop vac and 50mm cyclone for thicknesser chip extraction?

I am primarily a metalworker and dont do a huge amount of woodworking, but i am starting to use the lunchbox thicknesser more often to build up cheap spacers for jigs of various types. Now in the past I have just done this out in the driveway with no dust extraction and just wear a P2 mask for the few minutes that I am thicknessing something, with a bit of shop vac cleaning and blower to tidy up. However, in our new house my workshop opens onto the lawn, which isn't a huge issue except that its a pain to try and get the wood chips out of the lawn. So for broad cleanliness sake I am thinking of adding a dust extraction stage to my setup.

The thicknesser has a 63mm extraction port, but in a brief experiment with just the shop vac it clogs up due to the 36mm dust hose. Thinking of putting a cheap cyclone on it, to try to give a 50mm inlet to enable a larger volume of chips to be cleared. Still going to run it outside in the same way, but hopefully this helps with the WAF. I would go with a 63mm cyclone, but cant seem to find any easily available here, and US shipping is terrible with COVID.

I did consider getting one of the Sherwood/Sheppach glorified vacuum cleaners with a 100mm hose (https://www.timbecon.com.au/compact-dust-extractor) but figure this basically duplicates my existing shop vac. Or am I better off just grabbing one of those next time Timbecon (close to me) is on sale, rather than cobbling something together and spending more time messing about with it than using it?

I know that the general suggestion is to do plumbed in 4" or 5" setups, but for my purposes that is just overkill, and won't work for me anyway.

Will the cyclone work?