I'm more on woodworking then metalworking forums. My hobby is more of the repairing, making and modifying machinery for use, then of the joy of machining . We think of sawdust as fairly harmless, well with there have been a number of hobby woodworkers who have had to give up their hobby because of lung problems. It's either that or die. It's the silicate in the wood, the stuff you can't see, that causes it. It makes smoking look benevolent . We had a couple of die shops in our mill, both had very serious dust extractors. Big woodworking shops have good dust control systems with the doors open a lot. Of course how long did it take workers comp to admit asbestos was dangerous?
I should use a double bin like you are suggesting to do on my vacuum, but I don't and haven't. Maybe a good suggestion might be to use one of the old metal 5 gallon pails instead of the plastic, that way if there is a problem, you can easily carry it out and melt the snow on the walkway. Those 2 1/2' hoses are fairly long. So I haven't had any issues. It's a powerful old Canadian made, 12 amp Craftsman. Also, we live in a mild climate, so after grinding, I just open the door, put the box fan on, and leave for half an hour. The air in the workshop is changed. I use a Hepa filter on my shop vac.
Projects. Owe , It seems I always have to fix a machine so I can use it. I haven't had to use my surface grinder, so the mister project awaits. On a surface grinder it's doubly important, both to control dust and cool the work. My surface grinder is just a Delta Toolmaker. The real surface grinders work in 1/10 of a thou, mine works in 1/2s. Which is better than me, chuckle. It was more designed to sharpen lathe tools.