These are some ideas to work around my situation... which is defined by A) lack of money, and B) lack of power to supply even a 2HP material handling blower and my tools simultaneously.
Idea #1
Dust collection, comes off the tool (table saw, router, etc) and slope down slightly then into a garbage bin collector. Then go straight up a large 10" duct and gently curve into a smaller 6" duct which goes straight horizontally outside and to the squirrel cage blower. Large particulate shouldn't make it up the 10" duct but instead drop into the bin. This is good because the squirrel cage isn't so good at generating the suction to carry particulate up vertical ducting, and also likes to clog if it could anyway. Ducting between tools and bin shouldn't clog if it's sloped down only, and a slightly smaller diameter to speed the air up a bit. Likewise the air speed would be balanced to keep the 6" horizontal duct clear of dust. Maybe a cyclone at the blower if enough dust makes it that far and clogs it. Or I'll just clean it every day if I have to. I'm guessing at duct sizes, I'd actually build the blower and test air speed and suction through different diameters to make sure the horizontal ducts stay clear.
Idea #2
15 fluorescent lighting ballasts mounted in a box with a handle and a heavy duty cord to power them (mobile remote ballast). Carry it around and plug it into an area (connecting ballasts to lamps) to cut down on the considerable cost of buying almost 100 ballasts and fixtures (I have 6 areas to light, many of which need a lot of light for painting and photography). The obvious problem is a convenient plug for the huge amount of wiring between 15 ballasts and 30 lamps (60 wires minimum). To buy 6 plugs like that would pricy I think, if I could find them. What I'm thinking is to build them using a fire-proof insulator, some kind of plastic. 1/2" acrylic or something, haven't researched the best material yet. I'd drill holes 1/2" in fromt he edge, then push 2 nails into the edge so they protrude through the sides of the holes, with just less than the width of a nail between them. This mean another panel with single nails driven through it would clamp a nail between each corresponding pair of nails in teh other piece, if they all lined up right. Connect wiring to the ends of the nails, make sure they mate up properly, clamps to hold it in place, seal it all up, lots of glue, etc, etc, safety first and blah blah blah. With lighting at this scale I'm looking at saving myself $1000 in ballasts and fixtures, and reduce the cost for any future lighting by 80%.Comments welcome, I'm in uncharted territory as usual.