Zero clearance inserts are nice but hardly indispensable. The throat in the pic below has a whopping 1" clearance, but I have ripped 2 boats' worth of strips on it without a jam. The reason why strips dive into the throat is because they get pinched between the blade and fence. If you set up an auxiliary fence fastened to your fence, ending about at the center of the blade, the problem is solved. See the adjustable 5/8" ply aux. fence in the pic. This setup provides enough support that the strips are consistent in thickness, but the lack of fence past the center of the blade lets the strip sail on through without misbehaving. Normally I would have a featherboard hung off the fence and totally covering the blade to keep my fat fingers out of it, but it was removed for clarity. With a setup like this and some aux. stands, ripping 18' stock is a one-man job.

BTW, the auxiliary fence and T-track system was my project today, out of Vol. 10, Issue 60 of ShopNotes, currently on the newsstand. The T-track is available at www.woodcraft.com or www.rockler.com for about $8, or with a whole slew of bolts and handles for about $20. This system lends itself to things like aux. fences, featherboards, stop blocks, push blocks and such, and is much appreciated on this saw. We're talking about a cheap ($40) garage-sale 8" Craftsman, and the stock fence is a bad joke of a metal stamping. It's not square with the table or vertical either, but the new aux. fence fits right over it, fastens with through-bolts, and with a little tweaking it all lines up.properly now.