Thread: Cross-cut medium lengths on extension table ETA300

I have recently acquired this extension table, second-hand but little used and in good condition, to go with my Workcentre 2000. It seems to be OK. I will need to cross-cut 2440mm long pieces of 18mm ply, around 200-300mm wide, to lengths around 500-650mm or so. The sliding table is an empty rectangle. As long as the piece is still long enough (say 1400m-ish or longer) then it sits on both sides of the sliding table. But once it is shorter, it sags down onto the intermediate bars in the table, lifting the workpiece off the saw table and up the saw blade - aside from any other issues, this stops you getting a right-angle cut.

An obvious remedy is to pack up the central bars to provide intermediate support, but it's an awkward distance - maybe 7.8mm or so. Has anybody found anything suitable to pack up these bars? Or is there another solution? Obviously pressing firmly down on the workpiece on the saw table does work, but then there's up to 850mm or so of wood floating around in mid-air, supported only at the inner edge of the sliding table - the hold-down clamp on the sliding table isn't really strong enough to stop the workpiece tipping, though it helps. Maybe I just have to get used to holding down, sliding to exact cut width, pulling in to the fence, pushing the table etc, though that does seem to be a three-handed job.