Rick that is a good solution for a bad situation. the one thing you might want to mention though is before using the shop vac as an assistant for locating the errant part the process of sifting through the debris can be greatly shortened if the shop vac is thoroughly cleaned prior to its use.
The reason I mentioned it is I have used a shop vac to find things in th epast only I didn't think to clean it out first. I found what I was searching for bu tit took a long time since the drum was half full when I started, OOPs.