Ordered An Ellis 1600 Need Blade Recommenations.

My Wells is about the same size as your Ellis. I use a 12 tooth, M42 cobalt, bimetal blade. When I bought the saw about 3 years ago I also bought 2 blades. I still have the second blade on the shelf. It has cut a lot of material from thin wall tube to heavy chunks of tool steel and aluminum bar. I have never used coolant except for an occasional squirt of WD-40 on thick aluminum sections.

When cutting the thin section material I use a very light feed, much slower than it could cut. When cutting flat bar, I lay it flat or set it at a slight angle off of flat by putting a small chunk of round stock under the fixed jaw side of the piece. I would never cut a thin flat bar with it standing up in the vice. I cut round bar at a slower feed than flat bar.

I suspect that you are feeding too fast in the thinner material.
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Like Jim mentioned, check your feed rate as well as your speed. I would set the step pulley to a slower blade speed as well . I have used some paraffin for lube but mostly cut dry. I also break-in a new blade by cutting with a very slow feed rate for the first 10 or so cuts.
I have had GP blades last for months and hundreds of cuts. I run into trouble when cutting round stock tube as a slight slip results in tooth breakage. The cam lock vise is the Achilles tendon of the entire saw. This type of vise requires too much maintenance for proper work holding and I use two of these vices 100% of the time when cutting at 0º.
I will eventually go with screw type vise to eliminate the slip issue. I would not hesitate buying another Ellis saw again. Unlike Jim, I set up flat bar stock on edge and get straight cuts with minimal tooth contact. Make sure your roller guides (forward adjustable) are no more than 2" from material when cutting.
Its a learning curve, but in the end you'll get to know your saw. One more thing, when cutting angles especially in square tube, use a C-clamp along with the cam vise as the blade tries to "pull" the stock, again the cam lock vise fails to hold properly over time.
 
You would think that by age 67 I would know better, but, Live and Learn.

Since I got the Ellis, I have cut a lot of rather small stock except for breaking in the blades as they describe in the manual. For that I was using a 3 inch round of 4140 I've had laying around forever. I would set the pulleys at slowest speed and very low feed and let it do it's thing while I was busy doing other things. Same has been true with the smaller stock, set it up, fire up the saw and go about my business. Tonight I put on another Starrett 10/14 blade and decide I was going to sit there and watch the saw run. All of a sudden I noticed the motor bouncing. I shut the saw down and checked it out. The four bolts that hold the motor down to the reducer were about to fall out. I think my blade issues were cause by the motor bouncing and really causing the blade to bounce in the cut. Not good with thinner stock. After getting everything tightened up really well it ran so quiet I could not hear it from the other end of my workshop. I'll keep you posted if I have any other issues.
 
PaPa_Jack said:
You would think that by age 67 I would know better, but, Live and Learn.

Since I got the Ellis, I have cut a lot of rather small stock except for breaking in the blades as they describe in the manual. For that I was using a 3 inch round of 4140 I've had laying around forever. I would set the pulleys at slowest speed and very low feed and let it do it's thing while I was busy doing other things. Same has been true with the smaller stock, set it up, fire up the saw and go about my business. Tonight I put on another Starrett 10/14 blade and decide I was going to sit there and watch the saw run. All of a sudden I noticed the motor bouncing. I shut the saw down and checked it out. The four bolts that hold the motor down to the reducer were about to fall out. I think my blade issues were cause by the motor bouncing and really causing the blade to bounce in the cut. Not good with thinner stock. After getting everything tightened up really well it ran so quiet I could not hear it from the other end of my workshop. I'll keep you posted if I have any other issues.
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Jack, how is it going now? Just got an Ellis and looking for insights.
 
Alan H said:
Jack, how is it going now? Just got an Ellis and looking for insights.
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Sorry for the delay in answering. Been having health issues and not doing much until recently.

I bought the Ells because my (very) old Harbor Freight would not cut a straight edge no matter what I did. I have the 1600 and loved it at first. My real problem is blade wear. I have been through 6 blades in less than a year. I have tried everything I can think of but every once in a while the saw will suddenly "jump" and you can kiss that blade goodbye. I don't know what to do. I do not cut any heavy metal with it. The biggest I can remember was 1/4" x 6' wide. I have tried Starrett, Ellis and Lennox. All bi-metal . I've tried 4-6 tooth, as per Ellis, I've tried 10/14 tooth blades and always the same thing. I've tried every speed and feed combination I can think of. Nothing seems to matter. Early I did find that the motor anchor bolts were real loose. I though t tightening them would solve the issue but it hasn't. I just don't know what to try next.

I am a hobbyist. This is not being used in a commercial shop. Most of you probably use your saw more in a month than I do in a year.

This is strange, but I came on this site tonight to see what I could find about blades. I just ruined my last one tonight cutting a piece of 1/8" wall 1 x 1 square stock.
 
Jack, do you have the spring counter balance and resultant downward head pressure set properly? They have that spec on the head being mostly balanced by the springs but leaving an 8 pound down force an inch before it shuts off. Mine was set way too light from the factory.
 
I checked that with a scale, and it was just a little light. I experimented with it a little, but it's hard to get a real accurate reading with the scale I have available. I think it is just about right at 8 pounds though.
 
Per Paco's advice, I have been using mine on slow speed only. I cut several pieces of 4" pipe today with very good results. But I certainly haven't given the saw a real workout yet.

Here's the finish it produces on a cut.
pipe cut.jpg
 
The cuts are always perfect. IF I can figure out why I'm having issues with blades, it'll be perfect overall.

Like the Festool. I use mine on my router table.
 
Jack,

Have you tried calling the Ellis directly? I have found they are very helpful.
 
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