Being a hobbyist wood worker, I have plenty of saw dust of several varieties. It's just a matter of remembering to save some before it goes into the suction.
I really do like the dust smoker and the people at A-MAZ-N are fantastic.
I made a sort of canopy out of a disposable baking pan. The smoker sits on the drip shelf above the heater element. There is enough slope so that the drippings run off the canopy and on into the drip pan. A tray of saw dust lasts me about 6 hours which is about right for a brisket flat. Dust smoker stays lit just fine. I get it going with a generic propane torch with the blue bottle that you get at the big box store. It doesn't need anymore air than I get with the MES vent open pretty much all the way and the chip loader closed.
Photograph of the aluminum "canopy" and the smoker sitting on my drip tray are included below:
It's difficult to see in the photo, but I cut windows in the sides of the baking pan to get good airflow to the smoker basket.
Incidentally, I also bought enough silicone mesh from A-MAZ-N to cover two racks in my smoker. Sure makes clean up easier.
Sunny