Need advise on my sawmill project

[Ken Malone]

I'm planning to use 2 pieces of acme rod to raise and lower my cutting head.will be a Manuel crank setup to start maybe power later on.Any suggestions on setup? sprocket sizes? Shaft orientation?

[jpassardi]

Have you considered a chain and sprocket or a cable lift setup? The acme rods will be slow/take many turns.

[Ken Malone]

I thought the acme rods would be more acurate.
Read that somewhere.speed is not really an issue for me.later I may add a 12v motor.

[beenthere]

It's a sawmill and the accuracy of a chain is more than enough. Should be no variation along the cut, if the slack is taken out of the chain (or whatever system is used) when moved to the next position. Dropping the head down to the next set is something that has to be taken into account. Coming up not so much.

[Ljohnsaw]

The nice thing about ACME threaded rods is it is self locking. With a chain lift you will have to deal with locking. If it is a cog like latch that it is fine enough that you can hit your desired height mark.

[mike dee]

I picked up a new 2,000lbs electric winch for $49 during covid and used it to drive a chain connected to a sprocket on the manual crank that raises and lowers my cutting head. The winch uses planetary gears and doesn't drift. Being a cheap winch it goes slow and ended up being about the same speed as hand cranking it. I use the winch remote to power up and down.

Goes all day on an old car battery that lost it's oomf to crank a car.

[Mooseherder]

I have tractor trailer landing gear on my homemade mill that my friend built.  A 12 volt electric motor moves it up and down okay.  A logger whiplashed the mill head unloading logs a couple of years ago and snapped the right side rod.  It's welded up and working but not good as new . These type gear boxes are two speed. Granny and fast granny.

https://www.truckspring.com/heavy-duty-truck-parts/trailer-landing-gear.aspx

[Ken Malone]

 I like that set up.Thanks for the pictures.you got me thinking.