I cut 4 sheets of 3/4" MDF into thin strips last night. The thin strips varied from 2" wide, to 5.5" wide. I decided it would not be good times lifting sheets onto the table saw and thin ripping them so I got out the TS55. Although ideally I'd like to have a 110" rail, I found that I can connect two 55's just as straight. The only sacrifice is the time spent to connect the two rails, but the benefit is that it's easier for me to move the 55's around and store.
1. First I connected two 55" guide rails together with the 2 connectors. I used my 3' starett straight edge on the inner lip of the guide rail and made sure both guide rails were perfectly aligned with the straight edge and then tightened the connectors leaving 1mm of space between the two guide rails. It was a little tricky tightning both sides and holding the straight edge but I got it done. If you don't have a straight edge then you can use a framing square or ruler, or level... something straight.
2. I raised the stack of sheets from the floor with a sacrificial sheet. Some people use those insulation styrofoam sheets. I brush dust off the black neoprene grips and make sure the MDF is swept clean to prevent track slipping.
3. I adjust a combination square to my ripping size which was (for example) 4" wide. Then I add 2.2mm to that size to add the width of the saw blade. I used a digital vernier set to metric mode to the correct MM setting to doublecheck. Then what I did was use the engineer square to push the guide rail away from the edge of the sheet. This proved far more precise than marking with a pencil and aligning by site.
Some more thoughts..
I ripped through 2 sheets of 3/4" mdf at a time, something I wouldn't attempt to do on the table saw.
If your strips need to be an exact width then you can test on a sacrificial piece and adjust your combo square until your cuts are accurate when measured with a venier.
If your vacuum is on a cart and tall, then you don't need to buy a boom and your hose and cord won't get snagged on the sheet as easily.
If you have a minicyclone collector, you'll go through less bags.
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I suppose if I was building a torsion box of some sort then I'd use a jointer/planer to finalize the sizes but this was for wanescotting.
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) to the effect that the rail joining system is a bit of a PIA. It can be made to work, but in my experience needs knocking straight before every cut by butting it up against another straight edge. Pick it up and it's not going to reliably stay in alignment.....
