Building sawmill (newbie)

[gww]

Hey man, I know typing sucks, could you give us a run down of what adjustments you have made so far.

With guides?

Tire pressure?

Is the blade on edge or center of tire?

How did you adjust the mill to get correct measurements like magics picture.  Cut welds.

First you should get the measurement correct like magics picture and then forget that part and never touch it again except when things go bad to check to make sure it is the same.

Too your question of blade diving,  the first two things that come to mind.

Bad blade with set already affected from using it earlier while not tuned in.

The clutch is slipping.

Did the blade seem to cut pretty steady or did it stop and go?

I know you posted what you intended to do but what did you actually do to it?
Good luck
gww

[Ox]

If you have your blade parallel and level with the track and it still dives it's most likely a blade problem like gww mentioned.
Also as gww said if you can't keep the blade the same speed through the cut it'll do funny things.
I know you mentioned you've seen a mill built from a golf cart before.  As with everything else in life, what works for them may not work for you.  Any chance you can visit with that person to see what's good, bad or ugly and if he has any recommendations?
If I were you I'd listen carefully to gww as he just went through all of this the past few weeks.  And read his thread.
I'd bet a dollar the set is lower on the inside/upward pointing teeth causing your blade to dive.
For what it's worth, skinny and hard tires are the way to go.  Spare donuts work great, really rounded up with good crown.  Trailer tires are a close second.

[Georgia088]

Alright. Going to try to clear up the confusion.

We have added almost every possible adjustment to the non drive wheel that you can imagine. We can adjust the "toe" in/ out (but still can't get it to track in the center of the tire). We can adjust how plumb the tire is up and down. Which will somewhat adjust the distance from the teeth of the blade to the tracks and the back of the blade to the tracks. None of this changed a thing.  We are still trying to get it to to cut without blade guides.  No matter how we adjusted the non drive tire, when the blade entered the log it began to dive down. It would dive down unfil it is noticeable that the blade is being pulled (in a curve down) and then it would kinda straighten up throughout the rest of the log. This happened regardless of what we did.

We put our piece of crap blade guide back on (with a c clamp) and adjusted it so that it pulled down about 1/4" below the tire. This made it cut straight for about a foot and a half until the c clamp vibrated lose and caused the blade guide to make the blade cut upwards!

Believe it or not I was excited that the blade began to cut any which way but diving into the log. I really believe that blade guides will help mine tremendously.

I can't come up with a good solution to making a guide that will adjust all 6-8 ways that it needs to. I figure even if i did, it would cost 50-60 $s in bearings and marerial. So, I am strongly considering breaking down and buying the cooks blade guides. However, I'm not sure which one will work best with my set up.

Here are two different ones. I'm not sure the difference in the two. I don't even really understand how they work. Which (if either) is what I'm looking for?

http://store.cookssaw.com/sawmill-parts/roller-guides/standard-roller-guides/for-1-blades/1-complete-retrofit.html

http://store.cookssaw.com/sawmill-parts/roller-guides/standard-roller-guides/for-1-blades/1-roller-guide-assembly.html


Does anyone have any advice on which to get? If they think this will work? Anything really?

Thanks again!

Ps
I don't believe it has anything to do with the motor or the golf cart clutch because it seems to run extremely smooth. The motor never seems to be in a strain. The speed of the blade never seems to slow. It doesn't bind and isn't hard at all to push through the wood. It cuts extremely well it just isn't cutting straight.

[gww]

g
Man, I understand you excitement when you seem to be getting a good cut.

On the cook guide, what blade are you using?  You listed the 1 inch roller guide.  Most are using 1.25 inch blades or 1.5 inch blades.  You do need to match the guide to the blades you are going to use.

I believe the two guides you listed, that the $120 dollar one is the same as the other with the exception that it has the key incase with a casing that has your adjustment bolts.  If you bought the cheaper one you would have to built the casing and drill and tap the bolts yourself to get your adjustment.  You also need two, not one.  It list on the site that you need two so I am redundunt in say so but thought I would mention just in case you didn't know.

It sounds to me like it is your drive wheel that is off enough that you are having a hard time dialing it in to track center.  This is why when I first mentioned the getting the blade flat to the track, that I said this is the part you are going to hate.  On my mill I had to break the weld on my drive wheel and jam washers in to make the bottom of the wheel come forward to change the wheel tilt.

You may get buy with using guides to change the blade flatness even if wrong but you may spend the money and still have to get the mill right anyway.  You need the guides eventually if you are committed to getting the mill cutting.  If you however consider the guides your last try and you are done, it could be a waste of money.

You may not be so far out and you can finish fine tuning with the guide but keep in mind that you may have to get the mill tracking and blade parelel to track no matter what. 

I am not trying to add work that isn't needed,  If you knew me you would see that I do bare minimun to get stuff to barily work. 

I hope it works to you liking with just the guides.  I just say be cautious in your hope. 

Does your drive wheel have a ujoint that allows a bit of swivil one way or the other?  Or do you have to move engine trans and wheel in unison?  If the second, I see your wanting to give the guides a try.

Make sure when you put the guides on that you measure at each guide just like the picture that magic posted. 

I hope it works for you and would be very pleased if you tell us good or bad.

I am rooting for you.
gww

[Georgia088]

Just curious? Do most mills that use tires have adjustments in both the drive and non drive wheel? I was under the impression that you could adjust everything with the non drive wheel.

I don't see any way to adjust my drive wheel as it is a golf cart rear end. But maybe I'm missing something (I tend to do that quite often)!

Below is the link that inspired my idea. He didn't seem to have the issues that caused him to need all the adjustments I seem to need.... Just my luck lol

http://youtu.be/dTL_mjOYOh0

[Ox]

Were you using a new blade this time around when it's still diving?
gww has been batting 100% so far on this thread.  I can't add anything else.
Everybody that has upgraded to the complete Cooks guides have nothing but good things to say about them.  I would love to eventually get a pair as the guides I have now are a real PITA to adjust.  At least they stay put once adjusted so I guess I shouldn't be whining.
I remember it taking me a full day to adjust my mill to be as exact as possible.  These things take time.  And it pays off because I'm milling 5 year old seasoned black locust and it's just as nice and easy cutting as you could ask for.
I'm not bragging, don't get me wrong.  I'm simply stating that if you put the extra time and money in your mill first off you save alot of headaches down the road when you'd rather be milling instead of tinkering.
I realize money situations are different for all of us and some of us have no choice of having to go with what we have.
This is why I bought a kit and did all the fabrication myself.
2 forms of currency in this world - time and money.  If you don't have one you better have the other.
It sounds promising that with the guide on it cut straight.  It seems you would be able to get away with the guides making up for any other tracking issues.

[gww]

G
I have watched that vidio a bunch of times.  Some people have did enough fabrication to know what a weld does to a square piece, to just be better at measuring and getting things square the first time.  I am not cut from that cloth.  My ideal is if I want to measure something I sit it up against something else close and cut it, there are no rulers.  I see beutiful weld by others but I don't make them..  And some people get lucky and don't even know it cause they got it by accident.

The thing is, he is not having problims, you are.  In my very first post to you I stated that I thought your mill looked stronger then mine.  I think it has potential and yes the drive wheel is not supposed to move, but it does have to be in the right place to begine with.  I almost cried when I had to move mine (three times).  Once I had to switch the drive wheel to the non drive wheel side and vice versa.

The guide might fix it good enough or you might get it going without the guides and they will just make it even better when you put it on.  The easy way is to try it but you might still have the hard part to do and maby not. 

When you have the drive wheel where the blade measurement is level to the deck and you can take a strait edge and put it across the two tires and touch them in four places, you will be starting where you should be and then the non drive wheel adjustment will bring it home for you if when you tension your blade you get a bit of flexing.

I am not telling you that just the guides won't make it cut, they may.  If they don't your starting place is getting the blade flat with the cutting bed.

The vidio guys blade is running inthe center of his tire, for all we know he cut a groove so they would ride there, or he got something differrent then you have it.

I really really do hope that the guides alone get you going good enough cause I understand the pain of having to rework stuff.
Good luck
gww

PS Ox  cool on the locust, nice to be cutting after all that time eh.

[Ox]

gww - yessir.
I really don't have anything else to add to this thread at the moment...  have to wait and see what happens next.

[boscojmb]

Below is the link that inspired my idea. He didn't seem to have the issues that caused him to need all the adjustments I seem to need.... Just my luck lol

http://youtu.be/dTL_mjOYOh0

There are 3 issues that you need to address in order to get your mill cutting straight.

1.) Stop the youtube video at :55
The band teeth are contacting the tire. You may be able to make a cut or 2 like this but teeth touching the tire takes the set out of the bottom teeth after a minute or 2, causing the blade to dive. Mills that use rubber tires sucessfully; always use tires with a tall, skinny, pointy profile, like trailer, or motorcycle tires.
The golf buggy tires have an almost flat profile. It doesn't matter how well your mill is adjusted, with those tires, you will always have problems.

2.) The golf car variable speed transmission.
If your band speed drops - your blade dives - this is a proven fact. The fellow on youtube pulled it off for about a minute and a half. If you want to cut straight consistantly, You need to figure out how to lock into a single ratio, or use a different drive system.

3.) Your mill needs to be well adjusted as many other folks have described. Proper alignment is the most important part of an accurate, productive mill. IMO you need to address # 1 & # 2 before anything else.

I'm sorry if my post comes off as negitive. I am speaking from experiance gained from all of my mistakes.

[bkaimwood]

Hey Georgia... I had given you some insight on some facts I confirmed when I put my mill together, I hope you read them...GWW and OX have recently hit on the 4 things I think will resolve 95% of your issues, so please take these in and focus on them, they will save you from wanting to hang yourself! First, the blade being tensioned to the point where its crunching the tires is too tight...the need for the blade to be this tight in order to get straighter cuts is only masking the real problem!!! Second, if you cut pretty straight for one or two cuts, then all of a sudden the blade dove, nothing else changed, so its the blade...put a new one on after you've addressed this list...the blade lost its tooth set somewhere, whether it hit something, got too hot, or was simply a manufacturer issue, which I had. Second, consistent and proper blade speed/fpm is critical...varying blade speed will convert itself to varying cuts, wavy cuts, dives, and raises. Third, yes you want the blade at the top if the crown of the tire, but not dead high on the crown...use the crown to you advantage to control blade tracking...this amount off the crown they blade should track is tiny...not toward the front, toward the rear...if it tracks a hair to the front of the crown, its not controllable, and also risks flying off the front...have done that...you want it to start to track toward the back, where you could control it via the fourth item...Fourth, put the cooks guides on it myself as well as other members have recommend... As that blade just starts to track rearward off the crown of the tire as mentioned above, via the fine toe adjustment you have, it will come to rest and track on the flange the guides have...Voila, there it is...at the end of that list your saw will likely be cutting so pretty you won't be able to sleep at night...you will lay awake at night thinking of straight lumber...piles of it...been there too. So make sure to get those guides...as far as guides go, they are cheap, HARDENED (critical), and last a long time...I think mine have 300k miles on them...other bearings for me were a waste of time and money, my mill shredded them...I'm running a diesel and big blades, so maybe they'll last on your mill, I've seen guys use them, but not with longevity..lastly, pull the wheel out with your draw bolt to tension the blade tight, not tire psi..just run an even lower pressure, it doesn't take much, then push your new guides down 1/8" or so to perform the final tension. Focus, Daniel Son...good luck!!!

[Georgia088]

Thanks so much for all of your advice. I decided to go ahead and order the cooks blade guides.  They should be coming in Tom.  I'm hoping this will alleviate some of my issues.
I usually don't tighten the blade to the point that it is crushing the tires as shown in the picture.  I tried it to see if it may help but it didn't.
As for the tracking issue. My thoughts were as yall pointed out to have the blade track slightly rearward so that it would rest against the guides. However I seem to have to "toe" my adjustment on my tire quite a bit to get it to track backwards. Is this normal?
The blade losing it set because the teeth are contacting the tires is a concern, but I've seen it work with golf cart tires so Im hoping it will work for me as well.

The same thing with the variable clutch. I've  seen it work.  Plus, I can see and hear the motor and blade; it doesn't seem to slow down at all throughout any of the cut. The belt rides in the same place inside the clutch which should mean the speed is fairly constant.  I'm sure it's not the best method, but for the amount of wood I plan to cut I believe I can be satisfied with it. (I hope!)

So, I'm at the point of trying to get my tracking straitened out and waiting on the blade guides. I'm hoping if I resolve these two issues it will cut straighter.

Thanks again!

[gww]

G
When you get the blade guides and get to adjusting them, It would pay to have them adjusted to where you can measure your blade just like in the picture that magic posted.  This is my honest opinion.
I hope all goes well.
gww

Ps  My mill takes a lot of toe in to get the blade to ride where I want it to.

[Ox]

It sounds like you're on the right track now.  Keep us posted!

[coach08]

The 6 rules I found written by someone in the sawmill business for many years.  Probably not much about sawmilling he doesnt know.   Just something for everyones information.                             
#1 The blade must be sharp (No brainer)
#2 The blade must be set enough to clear the body and does not have to be perfect, just has to be enough. A little extra is better than not enough. This is not as critical as most sawyers think. Spend more time perfecting #3 and #5 and less time making perfect set.

#3 The blade must be flat. If it is not flat you must us a band roller to flatten the blade. Never assume that a new blade is perfect for your mill.

#4 The guides should hold the blade straight away, never leading up or down; just straight away. Many people adjust the guide to aim the blade up or down when really they need to adjust band wheel alignment (rule #5). If the guides are holding the blade straight away, that is all they can do and the problem will not be corrected by tilting them up or down. It might help a little when desperate, but it is not the solution. The solution is with #3 and #5 most of the time.

#5 The vertical alignment of the band wheels must be correct to have correct pressure points to saw straight away. NOTE:( I am speaking of a horizontal mill and the rules are the same for a vertical mill, just rotate what I am saying 90 degrees). Just remember the band wheels control the delivery and the pull of the blade as it passes through the log or cant. So the tilt is very important and must not be overlooked and is worth the time to perfect.

#6 Band speed is important. Too fast produces too much friction, making the band body weak. Slower is better than fast when problems arise. What slowing does is it allows the tooth to get a larger tooth bite size and the dust will stay in the gullet better because it is larger. With the dust going out of the cut the blades will remain cool, therefore cutting stronger than eve r before. A good summer range is around 5500 ft per minute. For winter it is important to slow down to 4800 to 5000 feet per minute

[Georgia088]

Ok. It's been a little while since we folded with the sawmill, but we ran in to more problems.

I got my cooks blade guys in. I found a way to mount them so that one is a permanent fix and the other is adjustable for different diameter logs.

However, my problem now is I can not get the blade to track properly. I have an adjustment on the non drive wheel that will allow me to "toe" it either direction. But no matter what I do the blade will not track in one spot on the tire. It will even jump over the blade guides.

Any ideas?

Thanks!!

[Ox]

I only have two suggestions.  1 - Make sure your tires are square to the bed/bunks.  Meaning up/down, not toe in/toe out.  If you're taking the blade that's coming off the tire at a wrong angle and then trying to straighten it with the guides it won't work.  If it does work, it won't for long because the blade will work harden quickly and blade life will be dismal.
2 - Perhaps it's time to try some skinny trailer tires, it seems to be the way to go on most of these mills.  They will be tougher, more rigid and much easier to track the blade.  Skinny, hard tires for bandwheels are what you want, not wide, fat, and soft.
I realize there's others out there that have made your setup work.  That was them, this is you.  You took a nice step in getting the good guides, now a little more cash layout and your problems will likely be solved.

[Den-Den]

I read several comments that excessive blade tension was crushing the tires.  This might be the case but I suspect that it is not excessive tension but tire pressure too low.  Good tracking on tires requires enough tire pressure to maintain a crowned shape under the blade. 

[gww]

G
It looks like you have a pretty solid frame.  That is your start. 

I think on this thread that there is a comunication link missing.

This is a critizism but one given with love not hate. 

You just post mostly what your problim is but hardly ever tell us the prossess you used to decide when the advice had been met or that it was decided that it wasn't what you wanted to persue.

If I say the first thing you should do is take a strait edge and put it across both tires and the strait edge should touch the tires in four places and that should be your starting point.  Now advice like that is not hard.  If the straitest thing you have is a board and you put it across the tires and you can't adjust the tires enough to start with the strait edge able to do that, then you report back and say something like.  I can get the strait edge to touch both sides of one tire but the other tire sits a quarter of an inch behind the one I have the strait edge on.  Maby even take a picture of what you see.

I don't know what you are working with cause I have never figured out if you mill is where it is supposed to be or whether it is off but in a way that can be worked with. 

I can see you are a busy guy and are not working on this full time but I don't know what you have going on relitive to what we advise.  I don't even say the advice is good but you think it is not the cause.

The last advice on getting the blade flat was answered by you that you worked on it tried to cut and even with the blade pointing up the mill cut down.  That kind of responce does not tell me that you ever got it level with the track or that the measurement on back was 1/2 inch higher then the front at a foot away from the blade.

So I have a couple of questions.  Did you ever get a strait edge to touch both tires side to side in four places?

If you put a bubble level on the front of the two tires with the level up and down is the bubble the same on both tires?  This is not as good as measuring the blade like magics picture but may give you a general ideal of what you are working with on your tracking.

I went back and looked at your origional pictures and looked and it seems that if needed that things could be ground lose shimmed and rewelded to get anything you want.

I go with ox on that if one tire was tilted differrent then the other tire it would be hard to get it to track.  I could be seeing the picture wrong but it looked like on the non drive wheel you could have a four way adjustment with adding just one more jam nut.  This of course is only it there is room on in the pipe that the bearing shaft is in where you have your adjusment nuts now.  This may help you on the tracking but would not help on the cutting unless close enough you could get your guides to make up for any short falls.  The one thing I differ from ox on is that the tall tires won't help much if you don't start with the wheels parelel to each other.  If they are parelel you should have enough adjustment to get tracking and then if the soft tires hurt while cutting you could change to trailer tires.  If they are too far out of alighment and you can't get the blade to track, it won't matter what you use.

My blade jumped of of my guides also and I believe it was happining due to my mill flexing under power and changing the tracking of the tires.  I also noticed it more when I didn't have the guides set just right.

The flexing is something to watch for when you have full tension and add power to the drive wheel.  It may be bending your non drive wheel area where your tracking adjustment is.  It is something to watch for.

I sure would like your assesment of how you think the wheels are on your mill compared to each other and how you decided that.

By the way, I think ox is smarter and better at these things then me so keep that in mind while reading my comments.

My assesment still comes down to starting with the wheels in alighment with each other and up and down and having the blade flat with the track like magics picture.  How you get there doesn't matter that much but that is where you need to be.  Watching what the blade does under power compared to not under power would be something I would watch for also.  I still would do this with out guides and when I got it correct I would add the guides and go through exactly the same prosses to get them adjusted correctly.

Just my thoughts.
Good luck
gww

Ps  I also agree with den den

[Ox]

I agree with gww.  In order for us to help you, we need you to start from the beginning, taking the advise posted here, and post back telling us what you found and what corrections, if any, you've done.

[Georgia088]

Alright guys. I will try and do a better job explaining my problems and what I did to try and fix them.

Before yesterday, we were not able to really use the blade guides because our blade would not track on the tire in a consistent spot.
We are thinking that our biggest problem is the tires. I feel like golf cart tires may work, but ours are not in the best shape.

When we put the tires on the they wobble and bounce pretty bad as if the tire is out of "round" and maybe balance. You can spin the tire around and take a screw driver and touch the rubber in one place and be a quarter inch off in another. You can do this on both the side wall of the tire and in the tread or "top" of the tire. And you can do this to the wheels (metal) and get similar results.  Both tires do this to some degree.

If you take the tire off and do the same screw driver test on the "hub" or bearing that the tire and wheel spin on; there is no or very little wobble.

This makes us believe something is out of whack with the tires and/or wheels we have.

Now to try and answer other questions:

Yesterday we were able to get both the tires plumbed up with the level going up and down on the tires. as gww said. I will try to post picture but not sure how much you can tell from it.

We got the tires to a point where four points were contacting at the same time when you held a board/straight edge across both tires horizontally. But then immediately had to adjust the toe of the non tire in order to get the blade to track (although not as much as normal which doesn't make sense to me).
We put about 22 psi in both tires which is more than we normally put but is about what these tires call for.
The blade did track fairly well. And the blade was about 1/8" from being flat. (Checking by magicmans method). We got this 1/8" straitened out with the blade guides. And it measured correct between the blade guides. Again magicman method.
We tried to guess at 1/4" down pressure with the guides, but not sure how you determine this.

We then cut.

Good news: it didn't dive and continue to dive. Like it normally does.

Bad news: it cut wavy up and down throughout the cut.

We did not have our tension nearly as tight as we normally try to get it. So we decided to try and tighten the tension.

For some reason with our "toe" adjustment and the adjustment for the "plumbness" of the tire. We have to tighten down so tight on our adjustment bolts that we can't adjust the tension (tubing sliding through tubing). We had to loosen adjustment bolts to adjust tension. The blade did not track after doing this.

Then the wives and mommys called us for supper time.

So that is where we are at. Not sure if any of that makes sense, but that's my attempt at expaining our process yesterday.

Thanks!

Ps.
We have the rails/bed/tracks pretty level.  I'm not saying it's perfect but I think t is much closer than our cut is to being straight.



  

  

 

[gww]

G
My tires bounce and wobble a bit side to side also and I do not think that is your problim.  If they where rounder and if they were balanced at a tire shop it would probly help but I don't think that is causing your issues.  To me it sounds like you are getting close.

Does the tranny have a clutch that allows you to free wheel by hand after you put the blade under tension?  If it does I would take a trial and error type attitude and I would tighten the tension and then turn it buy hand to finish the toe in adjustments.  I am correct that the slider to tension works till you tighten the toe in, In reverse, does the toe in still adjust after the sliding of the tension.  If it does then I would preform the test backwards. 

The real problim with this is that you would probly have to do it every single time you want to use the saw.  A short cut to try would be to get it where you had it best and then take the tires from 20 lbs up to 35 lbs and that should add some extra tension. 

Where you using a brand new blade that had never cut.  I know that is hard to waste another blade but now that you have it cutting strait with no diving, you may be amazed at the differrance that the new blade would do for your cut as far as wavyness goes.

It would have been nice to get the blades even closer than they are to flat.  Are you still cutting on a concreete base.  It is probly not your track if you are.

I think, if you could get the tension a bit tighter and try a new blade that has never cut before it might work for a strait cut.  If the adjustments you are talking about to get a tensioned blade can't be repeated easiely it will still suck in using it though.

What type of hub do the wheels and tires have.  Is it a four bolt pattern?  If you get consistant tracking and repeatable adjustments it might be worth replacing the wheels with something better.  It sounds like ith bearings are ok if with out the wheels on it it has no movement.

If you get the blade tracking and level and with a brand new blade on it and it cuts strait but still give you waves, which it may not do, my opinion then would be is your speed from your tranny constant.  If it is not you might have to slow your cut down to where it is not putting as much load on the tranny causing it to slow down.

I think you are close though it would be nice to get rid of the 1/8 inch differrance  in blade measurement if at all possible before putting the guides on.

On the down pressure of the guides.  You might try to just set the guide where they barily touch the blade and then just enough pressure to get the blade to run flat and try to run it.  It may not be a full 1/4 inch down pressure if run this way but it might compensate for some of the tire wobble.  I don't have guides installed yet so am only guessing what might help.

I think if you have something that is repeatable in getting your tension the same every time like where you had it when cutting strait with waves, that a new blade might just bring it home.

If you can even understand what I said above, it iws my best that I can come up with in trying to help.  I do thank you for explaining more in detail as I don't feel quite as lost on knowing where you are with your mill.  Good job.
Good luck
gww

[Georgia088]

I haven't used this blade to cut through an entire log. (Maybe 8-10 passed) Do you still think it could be the blade?

[gww]

g
From your what you are telling me and my experiance of simmular situations, Yes I think it is the blade.  I don't however want to lead you wrong and cost you money for no reason, I could be wrong.  If I am then I am sorry but I really believe that a new blade might bring it home.  Keep in mind my other comments on making it a bit better also.  Don't be afraid if you get it like you had it to add a bit more air to the tire to get a little more tension.  You wouldn't have to run it that way for ever but it would give you more info on what you might have to do.

I hurt every time I have to use a new blade but it will probly help your cut.

Your old blade did hit the guide and may have damage but even if I didn't think that, my experiance is leading me to think you are close and a blade will show you more and take away one questionable verible.
Good luck
gww

[Ox]

Bouncing and out of balance tires definitely don't help anything.  As with most machinery, smooth is the name of the game.
I think with different tires/rims some of your tracking problems will vanish.  We used to run 50 psi in the trailer tires on the Turner Mill years ago.  Zero tracking problems.
To get 1/4" down pressure on the guides, tension and track the blade first, with nothing else touching the blade.  Set it at say, 6" from the bunks.  Make sure it's the same all the blade.  Measure from the bunk to the back of the blade as close to the tires as you can.  Then push your guides down until the measurement on blade, inside of the guides (where they are now pushing on the blade) measures 5 3/4" both sides.
gww is right in the blade thing.  Get your tracking and adjustments set on this older blade.  Then slap on a new one and see where you are.
I realize you're trying to save money and it's easy for others to spend your money but some things just need to be gotten or you'll drive yourself mad.  I know this from experience.

[Georgia088]

Just to clarify. The blade that is on now hs never been kinked by the guides. That was the first one I tried. I am planning on getting a set of trailor tires and wheels. To see if that will atleast make it smoother as ox says. I will put a picture below of one that I am looking at getting that I think will fit my lug pattern.

Does it matter the diameter from runbber to rubber on the tire? Is larger better than small?

Thoughts?
Thanks!