Making a Slat mill

It's cool Joanna but we're keepin this thread the dicussions on makin treadmills and thier progress!

Buck man those are some nice pics great job bro damn that's gonna be a good start up mill.

 

Foto's off the mill are looking good Buck!

 

looking good so far. the only thing i would reccomend is welding both axles into place, getting both front and rear axles and rollers level with each other before welding the angle bar with roller wheels into place.

 

i was going to try to put dolly wheels on the back! but not sure yet, and i was all wrapped up in trying to make the backend adjustable, to put the rear wheels back but not sure if it is necessary, if i put on small alignment wheels, just on the rear.

i need 30' ft of rubber still, 3/4'' inch rod at 30'' , 44 roller wheels, and Slats which I'm working on today if i have time.

 

1) How thick should the rubber stripping be?

ROLL OF EPDM RUBBER 1/8 THICK 6" X 144"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ROLL-OF-EPDM-RUBBER-1-8-THICK-6-X-144_W0QQitemZ380079548209QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item587e81a731&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1205|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50#ebayphotohosting

or should I go thicker?


2) My track is going to be 17 3/4'' wide.
so i'm looking for the most common width

 

well my rubber belt is 1/8 x 3". i don't see where 6" would be neccessary , it may even lift up on the inside edge if you are using a single bolt/pop rivet to attach the slats, then again it may be fine. 17 3/4?? why so wide? do you have bigger breeds? mine is only 12" but accomdodates my biggest male @ 67 lbs. he could use a 14" but it does the job. my only concern would be the dog running all over the place instead of running a smooth straight line.....less chance for injury, not to mention giving them a nice striding form.

also, a mill that wide and beefy would probably do better with 6" hubs or even 8"...front and back....especially with the amount of drop you are working with. i just forsee too much resistance and possible binding issues with those small wheels. just thought i'd throw that at you before you welded it all up. i wasn't trying to rain on your parade but grinding out weld and refitting sucks....especially after laying a pretty coat of paint on her.

 

Yeah i hear Smith's Bulldogs, the running surface on the slats is cut down by the wood sides, and have a couple buddies that would put there hounds on it as well, my biggest runs 53-54lbs these days.

The rubber stripping comes in 6'' wide strips so i figured cut it to 3'' by cutting the roll in half with a hot wire and, 2 clamps??:confused: , I was going to try anyway but good point get it pre-cut from that guy he does custom sizes.

the slats i think a friend is donating cherry wood for my mill if there is'nt enough its maple i think then.

as for resistance I'm not to worried as of yet because, i only have 2 lbs. per roller that's it. and the end acts as more of a guide i figure but they have two bearings each end as well but the width of the track was a little big but should spin nice and , I'm a bolt it together so i can ship it later.

I am going to tack weld it when i got the parts here for the finale assembly tho and put a dog on it to test the alignment and spins before drilling and bolting!

i could narrow it but my dogs run wide when i run them beside the quads, so its natural to run wide i think for them. but I'll soon see!

 

good idea. tack it, test it, then weld her up. with the inline wheels being so far apart from each side, you may get that bowing action in the middle of the slats. i have seen 18 inch wide mills but they usually use regular roller skate wheels...not inlines. i forgot what you said earlier about your wheel choice.

forgive me if i seem critical. i studied many designs of these mills and have seen several in action. they're really fairly simple to make and pretty much built the same way. getting them true and plumb is the only requirement for a smooth running mill....the rest is just bling bling lol

 

the bowing is an issue i never thought about but i can narrow the rails for the roller blade wheels but 2 inches and then it should be better but keep the 17 3/4'' slat size , just narrow the roller wheels in an inch each side, maybe?

 

here's a few links of folks that make these mills. maybe you've seen them maybe not. not a whole lot of people making high quality mills but these are some of the better ones i've ran across...the dog trotter is by far the best, IMO and you've already seen his site but here's a few more designs to check out to get a few ideas....

http://www.angelfire.com/az3/winmill/

http://fatboymills.com/The_Treadmills.php

http://www.www.grandchampionajax.com/Treadmills.html

 

you make some good points tho! and experience will teach you the most!

 

Thank you!

 

I need a set of those big wheels they have 6'' or 7'' ones they are less to get moving cause of size, But not to big eh!

*****and that's like 60 roller wheels! less than 0.5 lb per wheel with the dog probably!

the wheels where are they from? to big for go cart no?

 

that's right. , you got to get them hands dirty first.

 

Cigar break back in 15min

what up cutt back in 15

 

6" seems to be the universal size. if you have enough "drop" with your belt which it appears you do, you could go 7". that will mean more wood though, lol i would personally go with 6" x 3 1/2 half wide 2 piece aluminum wheels. i seen a few on ebay from time to time for cheap like 10 bucks a rim (2 halfs= front or back rollers)

*EDIT* you may want to look for golf cart wheels too.

 

my ol man just came from the Dominican republic....he brought me a few cohibas...not the red dots either

 

GD.com does not promote smoking....lol Captain Black Sweets here!

 

http://s465.photobucket.com/albums/rr18/BrindleHideKennels/my%20treadmill/Slatmill%20Two/Slatmill%203/

went and snapped a few pics of the wood sides and a left over piece of 2''x6'' i mocked up to see what it looks like so far!

 

looking good so far. nice heavy duty frame. you should definately consider bigger wheels with the height and drop you'll have.