Re: 4 X 8 Plywood Ripping
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:56 pm
Cuts aluminum table tops like hot butter also! 
To get a feel for what ripping will feel like on any table saw, take off the blade and set up exactly for what to envision the cut to flow like through the blade if it were there.
I cannot caution you enough to go through these actions.
Supporting a 4 x 8 sheet for ripping will challenge you.
You have to support both infeed and outfeed while keeping stock moving through the blade, held down, and continually against the fence.
Go through the motions of the entire cut.
If you struggle without a blade, just envision damaging not only your stock but yourself. A home built guide can be fabricated to use your circular saw to make very good sizing cut, if not the final cut.
Even if you buy a saw guide it will cost far less then even the most affordable Emergency Room visit.
Walk it through without a blade if you need some muscle memory to sustain how difficult it will be. Plywood is heavy, Baltic Birch even heavier and MDF is very heavy.
Be prepared and aware that some things a Shopsmith can do well is far more difficult as stock size increases. It’s true with most every tool regardless of brand.
My advice is find another way. You likely will be cutting down many panels in your woodworking career.