2) Laminate the piece with plastic laminate if desired. In my case, the extra thickness made the insert the perfect height.
Make sure the power to your table saw is off (like remove the plug). Lower the blade all of the way, put in insert in place, move fence over insert to help hold it down making sure that the blade wont come up through the fence. Then turn on saw and also use a scrap to put some downward force on the insert and slowly crank the blade up through the insert
