Best way to raise and lower bandsaw head

[ThomasL1980]

In the middle of building a homemade bandsaw mill. Trying to figure out what the best options are for raising and lowering the saw head. Originally was thinking boat winch or wire rope and an atv winch. But then I got to thinking maybe there is another route thst won't break the bank lol. 

[JoshNZ]

From a few years here watching build threads I guess there's 3 main ways someone might do it, that I've noticed at least.. 

Hang it from cables and winch it manually or turn the drum with a motor as you're suggesting. You need to design in such a way that cable wraps same diameter on drum/shaft each side in order to stay level, or have a single cable that wraps on your drum connected/split into two cables, one for each side.

You can hang it on lead screws which are threaded rods joined by a chain, turn the rods and the nuts on them fixed to the head raise and lower (this is how I did mine and big fan of it, works great, accurate, no risk of head falling, no need to lock).

Or you can hang it from hydraulic cylinders but I wouldn't go down that route if you're trying to keep to a budget.

[ThomasL1980]

Does it have to be acme rod? After looking on here when I have time the last couple weeks, the wire rope way I wanted to do seems as if I could have trouble keeping it level 

[JoshNZ]

I'm sure it is possible to keep level just needs some thought to go into the design. A cable for each side run over pulleys and attached to the same point for e.g. is one way.

I'm sure standard threaded rod would work fine for a while but might wear prematurely. Acme is designed for shifting loads with a steeper flank on the thread.

[Ianab]

Lift on my swing blade mill is chains. The chain runs as a loop from the saw head, around sprockets at the top and bottom of the frame, and back to the saw head. Top sprocket is connected to the winch, and has a shaft across the frame to drive another chain on the other side. So both sides raise and lower in unison. 

Basically the same idea as a cable, but as it's a loop of chain you don't have the issues with cable doubling up on the drum, and the chain will winch down as well as up, in case you haven't lubed the uprights enough. 

[kelLOGg]

There is a lot on this.
Power up and down in Sawmills and Milling (forestryforum.com)

[maineshops]

My Hudson came with a boat winch and cable and I added a 12v car windo mother and a power supply. It has been working well for 15 yrs. I also added an after market windshield washer set up for cooling 2 nozzles gets fluid to both sides of the blade to reduce stress. Dan

[rusticretreater]

Here is the way it is setup on my Woodland Mills saw.  Its one slick setup.  Cable can't be spooled on a reel as it doesn't wrap the same way every time.  

You don't have use an acme screw for adjustment, but you are giving away accuracy and low wear characteristics by not using one.  Use anything that isn't hardened and you will get a low spot where you use the screw the most.

Chains are good once dialed in.  Just need a periodic cleaning and lubrication to keep them up to snuff.



 

 

 

[RetiredTech]

  I'm also in the middle of a build. I went the the hand winch route and used a worm drive winch just so I wouldn't have to use some form of lock to hold position. It works like I thought it would except it's very slow. I can already tell my arm and shoulder will not hold up to a full day of sawing if I don't change something. I'm thinking of adding a wheelchair motor to drive the winch and have already got one on hand. It was pointed out to me that the bronze bushing on the input shaft of the winch is going to be the weak link so I'm trying to figure out how to replace it with a ball or roller bearing before I add the motor. Cable lift is fine if done right. There are a couple ways to do it. I used a cable clamp to fasten the two lift cables together at the top of the mill. I have a pulley that the main cable goes around on the top far side of the and then comes back to the side the winch is mounted on. A second short cable goes from the far beam to the top of the mill and clamps to the main winch line. Make sure the distance between the pulleys is a little longer than the amount of lift you need. I used eye bolts at the beam to secure the cable for easy leveling adjustment.Hope this helps.

[Mattjohndeere2]

If you have cable, it may be pretty easy to upgrade the hand winch to a little atv winch, and wire it through a double-pole-double-throw switch. This is how my old Hudson is set up. I can dig up the part from Grainger that I use for the switch, I've replaced it once or twice.

My Hudson uses the round drum with 2 cables approach. Each side has an adjustment screw to pull one end of the cable to properly get the head level. The way the end of the cable is attached to the drum forces the cable to never wrap on top of itself. I can take pictures and post this weekend when I get back to sawing. The atv winch is also attached to the drum separate from the two other cables. Operate winch, drum spins and head raises/lowers.  It is pretty decently accurate, I don't find myself having to check it or adjust all too often.

I like the lead screw approach that was mentioned above, probably would never have to check that after it's set up right. That would be easier to add an electronic system to as well in the future to take the guesswork out of cutting.

[Crusarius]

I started with acme threaded rod 5 turns per inch. I switched to cables, and then to chains, and now I am back with the acme rod. 

They all worked but for my setup the acme rod seemed to work the best. No need for a lock. it is easy to adjust. it will not change height unless you turn the rods. Turning the rods accidentally is almost impossible.

My biggest issue is the wheelchair motor I am using is really slow to raise the head but perfect speed lowering. Since I start all my cuts at the top and work down it works well. but standing there for 2 minutes while I raise the head to prepare to load the next log can be frustrating.

I am sure if I add a spring assist to it raising will be quite a bit faster. The other thing I could do is balance the head more so the acme rods are not side loaded as they currently are.

In the grand scheme of things, there is no wrong way to do it as long as it does not move when you do not want it to.

One of these days I will have a better setup but until then what I have works. And it works well.

[Hilltop366]

My personal opinion is either:

A manual lift like a SMG Champion mill that uses a garage door spring and cables, it is the fastest and the least amount of effort of any I have seen. Because the head is almost balanced by the spring to make low effort and fast it would require a brake to prevent creep.


A powered lift with a hydraulic cylinder and chains or cables (I think TimberKing uses this kind) the chains ride over a roller or sprocket on the cylinder like a forklift only horizontal, quite simple, has no electrics if using a belt drive pump and very reliable.

[jpassardi]

Another option is how the LT15 is setup: chain/sprockets with gas struts to assist. Struts serve same purpose as torsional OH door spring would.