Ellis 9000 Drill Press

[Chris Padilla]

I'm not having much online luck finding out anything about this drill press. Anyone else luckier than me?

I found yet another auction much, much closer to me that has one of these babies for sale. Dunno anything about its condition but I thought I'd rasearch it a bit to see if it was a "must-have" in the shop.

All info and links appreciated.

[Bruce Page]

Chris, I just did a Google on it and found this; http://www.irvansmith.com/catalog2/parts/ellis_drill_press_9000.shtml

I don't know anything about them but it looks pretty nice.

Opps, just saw that this is the 9500

Just lookin around at the Ellis machinery, it looks like industrial grade stuff. Certainly worth a look.

[Chris Padilla]

Bruce, thanks, but those are the 9500 and 9400 models. Newer ones obviously. And, yes, I found that page as well and thought I struck gold until I clicked further....

[Bruce Page]

Here's a pic of a 9000 and some specs

ELLIS MODEL 9000 VARIABLE SPEED
DRILL PRESS, 20"
SPINDLE SPEEDS 0 - 1200 RPM
DRILLS TO CENTER....... 20"
DRILLING CAP STEEL..... 1-1/16"
DRILLING CAP CAST IRON. 1-1/4"
TAPPING CAP............ 3/4"
MORSE TAPER............ NO. 3
QUILL DIAMETER......... 2-3/8"
COLUMN DIAMETER........ 3-5/8"
SPINDLE TRAVEL......... 4-3/4"
SPINDLE TO TABLE....... 28-3/8"
SPINDLE TO BASE........ 47-1/2"

[andrew whicker]

I know this is a REALLY old thread, but one of these drill presses is on auction near me.

Did you end up buying it? How did it work out?

[Bill Graham]

I know this is a REALLY old thread, but one of these drill presses is on auction near me.

Did you end up buying it? How did it work out?

The Ellis presses are definitely industrial-quality tools but they only go to 1200 rpm which is slow for woodworking. I looked at them seriously but the rpm limitation and the weight(>600lb) put me off.

They're designed for metalworking, you can drill up to a 2" hole in mild steel but for woodworking they're less than optimal. Twist drills in hardwood are recommended to run at 1500-3000 rpm up to 7/16", brad points would suit the Ellis as would Forstners.

Another thing to consider is age and condition: these tools are designed for and marketed to machine shops and industrial manufacturers. There aren't a lot of weekend warriors that'll shell out $3500 for a drill press that will be every now and then. They go to customers that use them all day, every day and the major concern is to make production, not take care of the tool. Unless you're extremely lucky, any used Ellis press you run across has had a long, hard life and is likely too worn to be worth reconditioning. Otherwise it would have been reconditioned and still in use.

Just my thoughts, hope this helps.

best,
Bill

[Scott T Smith]

I have an Ellis in my metal shop; they are excellent industrial grade drill presses for metal work.

For woodworking though, I prefer my Delta.

[Bill Dufour]

Unless it has an easily replaceable low speed motor I would not get one for wood working. If the motor is 1450 rpm or so You could easily replace it with a three phase 3500 motor and it should be good for wood working. Of course it may take some work to get the existing motor pulley onto the new motor. I would rather have a three phase motor and belt switches then a variable speed machine.
My Walker turner 20" dp weighs in at about 600 pounds so the Ellis is not really a heavy weight metal working machine. I would not pay over one dollar a pound for a used dp.
Bill

[Chris Parks]

My Brobo DP is a gear drive, top speed is about 1300 rpm and over 30 years it has never given me any problems with drilling wood. If it is three phase just put a VFD on it for increased versatility in speed selection.