Last week, I declared my 30+ year old Craftsman table saw dead. I wasted about four hours trying to repair it and finally gave up.
But, I am not ready to purchase a new saw and I still need to rip a lot of 12' boards for my workshop construction.
What to do?
I decided to purchase a third 1400 mm Festool Guide rail and a ripping blade (Panther - $26.25) for my Festool circular saw and rip that way. The rail and blade came yesterday and I set things up this morning. It turns out the ripping this way is a lot easier than it was on my table saw (even though I have a good out-feed roller for use with the table saw).
I am enclosing one picture. It shows a board clamped beside the one that I am currently cutting in order to provide a base to rest the rail on. That set up takes very little time and works well.