On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:37:46 -0600, "MikeWhy"
wrote:

"Chris Friesen" wrote in message
tel...
MikeWhy wrote:
The concept seemed simple enough, and it didn't occur to me that I had
never tried cutting anything this long before. I have to cut some 8'
sheets of plywood the long way on the TS.

Get/make outfeed support for both the cut and offcut. Infeed support is
good as well.

Hold the plywood at the back left corner. I like to have one hand on the
back and one on the left side. Start the cut, applying pressure towards
the front right corner to keep the board against the fence. Once you get
fast the first few feet, move directly behind the sheet and push it
through.

I envy you that. It just wouldn't start straight for me. The long leverage
made it especially easy to over correct. (It turned out to be pretty
manageable just by adding some support at the far end, behind me. I just
stoood at the table and fed it, just like any other rip. Maybe some day in
the far future, I'll try it again... but I suspect I'll just happily pay the
$1/cut.)

What Chris says works for me, too...but, really, what it's all about
is practice. One more thing, though, try real hard to get your
footwork good enough to keep the sheet (or board, if you will) to move
through without stopping. Do some dry runs...plug in your
hands...keeping your eyes on the fence connection. I find the hardest
part to be getting the sheet set up to *start* the cut...the cut
itself is no longer an issue due to repetition. Now, all that said,
depending on the widths of my rips, I'll most always get at least
*one* done where I purchase the stock (at HD they'll do one cut
free...most yards out here will do that) and that cut just a smidge
over the dimension I'm after...this gets the sheet size much more
managable. Then the procedure described above...practice, baby,
practice...

cg