Ellis 1600 Band Saw

pgk · Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:35 pm

Hi Guys,
I bought a used Scotchman CPO-350 about 10 years or so ago instead of a larger band saw, my thinking was that the cold saw would and does take up a lot less room than the band saw. My workshop is our 2 1/2 car garage so I'm cramped for space. The Scotchman make extremely accurate and smooth cuts but is limited to what size it can cut. The company I bought it from sells both new and used machinery and is willing to purchase the cold saw back on trade for a new Ellis 1600, one of my friends owns a local fab shop just down the road from where I work and they have used Ellis band saws for the past 20 years and they have held up well. I made a heavy base with swivel castors for my Scotchman so I could move it easily from it's storage spot, I looked up the specs on the 1600 and at 480lbs it appears to be quite a bit lighter than the Scotchman. Can any of you guys that own a 1600 tell me if they are relativity easy to wheel around? I'm not getting any younger! lol

Thanks Pete

Alex Martin · Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:32 pm

I own the Ellis 1800. It is a great saw and have had no problems. I built a angle iron frame with casters so I can move it around easily. The 1600 comes with wheels and a pull out handle, it is easy to move, we had one of these at a place that I once worked. The great thing about the Ellis saws is that the cutting head miters while your work is always in the same position. This makes it nice if you build in-feed and out-feed tables / rollers that are stationary. I live not too far form the Ellis factory, it is just outside of Madison WI, I picked up my saw there. They are small family business and are very helpful if you ever have any questions. The Ellis drill press is awesome, it is 110v frequency drive with instant reverse, it is great for power tapping. Yes it has instant reversing with 110v single phase input, it has a built in phase converter to get the three phase for reversing. They advertise that you can do small milling jobs with it although I haven't tried that.

pgk · Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:34 am

Thanks Alex,
I did pretty much the same thing for a movable platform for my cold saw, hopefully when I get the saw I can move it easy enough, if not I'll make another platform with castors. I didn't realize that their drill press was variable and at 675lbs must be built like a tank.

Thanks for the info...

Pete