Ordered An Ellis 1600 Need Blade Recommenations.

I've ordered a couple new blades from BandsawBlades Direct. I was also talking to a gentleman in a local shop that has two older Ellis saws. He also brought up the suggestion to check the downward pressure. I have checked it several times over the last year but decided to give it a check again. I checked the weight, and it showed about 8 pounds. However I borrowed a much better and more accurate scale. Mine is a pretty good fishing scale that I rigged up from a step ladder so that I could hang it in direct line with the saw head. Just out of curiosity, I tied the two scales together on the workbench so that they would pull against one another. I put a pulley over the end of the bench and hung a 10 pound weight on it. The other end was anchored to my bench vise so it was rock solid. The borrowed scale showed exactly 10 pounds. The fishing scale showed 7 pounds. Then I used a ratchet strap to pull the tension on the good scale to 8 pounds and my old fishing scale was only reading about 4.5 pounds. Sooooooooo, it appears that I have been running the 1600 far too light. I have adjusted it to just a hair over 8 pounds now so we will see how the new blades work out. They should be here today. Thanks for the help. Another reminder that quality tools do make a difference.
 
I go to a lot of garage sales and whenever I can, buy the cast iron barbell weights. It's easy to make a balance scale from one of those and some bar stock. Just cut down a 10 lb weight to 8lb, and voila! I don't have one of those because I use an accurate scale for my Emmerson saw - set to 10lb down force.
 
Hey Papa_Jack,
How is your Ellis working since you adjusted the head pressure? :)

Pete
 
Hey Papa_Jack,
How is your Ellis working since you adjusted the head pressure? :)

Pete
Still not as good as I expected. I replaced the blade and within a week it had a one inch bad spot in it. Due to some medical issues I have not been able to follow up on it though.
 
Still not as good as I expected. I replaced the blade and within a week it had a one inch bad spot in it. Due to some medical issues I have not been able to follow up on it though.

Sorry to hear about your health problems, get those ironed out first! :) I would call Ellis at this point I'm sure they could steer you in the right direction. I'm anxious see what you find out.. Get well soon...

Pete
 
Only thing I can think of striping teeth is less than two teeth on stock at some point, after the first one goes a bunch get striped. dose it happen when finishing cut , starting , half way thru ?
Wonder if it's the material has hard spots in it.
I don't have an Ellis but on my rong fu horizontal saw I tighten the blade as tight as I can with the cheesy plastic wheel , if I don't abuse the blade it lasts a long time 6months, that saw has cut miles of material, still going strong.
 
Still not as good as I expected. I replaced the blade and within a week it had a one inch bad spot in it. Due to some medical issues I have not been able to follow up on it though.
Jack, As I mentioned earlier in this thread I have an Ellis and have had no problems. I am wondering what setting you use on the hydraulic cylinder metering valve when cutting. I run my saw in the low or middle speed range and set the metering valve between 1 and 2. (0 is closed) This controls the speed of the drop and of course this works in unison with the spring tension setting discussed in this thread.

You mention your saw jumping, I think that may be an indication of too high of a feed rate (set with the metering valve).
 
It has to be feeding to fast to grab and strip teeth out. Slow the down feed . Or the hydraulic feed pistons bad????
 
In addition to feed and speed, make sure your blade guide bearings are adjusted properly using a feeler gauge. The only time I strip teeth is on round material due to material slippage. That said, I upgraded the vice to a screw type and use a modified section of angle iron like a V-block.

Troubleshooting Crooked Cuts

  1. Check blade for worn or broken teeth and replace if needed.

  2. Check to make sure that the number of teeth per inch on the blade fit the application. As a rule, only 6 to 12 teeth should be in contact with the workpiece.

  3. Check the head pressure on the saw. The compensating spring tension should be 8 pounds with the blade 1" above the table, coming down with the hydraulic valve open.

  4. Check the blade tension. Review the proper blade tension procedure under “Removing and Replacing Blade” on page 5, item 10.

  5. Check the space between bearings of both guide bearing assemblies. It should be only .001" over the thickness of a
new blade. As an example, a .033" feeler gauge would be used to set the guides for a .032" thick blade.

6. Check the blade tracking on the idler and drive wheels. 9" solid wheels: blade in center of wheels

12" spoked wheels: 3/4" wide blade should have teeth protruding from the side of the wheel about 1/8", and the 1" wide blade about 1/4".

14" spoked wheels: 1" and 1-1/4" wide blades should have teeth protruding 1/4" to 5/16" from side of wheel.

7. Check to make sure that the blade guide assemblies are not too far apart. Set the idler blade guide closer to the work to provide greater support for the blade.

Manual:
http://www.ellissaw.com/wp-content/uploads/parts_catalog_2h_Pages2b_c-11.pdf
 
Hope Im not going afoul of site rules by mentioning it (im no way connected with them) but the one time I ever bought replacement blade for my saw it was online from a place called sawblade dot com They had great prices and made me the blades in the odd ball size I needed. I don't have a blade welder and the usual catalog houses don't carry the size I need. Bought several different TPI's in case but been using the same 8/10 for a couple years now. Boy what a difference new blade makes. Never realized how bad it was cutting (rubbing) until I put a sharp one on!
 
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