Balkan BoysSlat Mill

B A L K A N B O Y S

C H A P T E R 1

Balkan Boys Slat MillNothing is better than natural conditioning. A super free spinning mill isn't providing

yourdog with as good and natural of a workout as if he was running across your yard. The ground doesn't move under your dog when he's running. He propels himself over the ground, so a super free spinning mill isn't giving your dog the full advantage that he would get from normal running.

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Its not the treadmill you buy that wins your fight for you, nor is it fault of the mill if you lose.

Thats why I write so much about problems you may have on any mill you use. Treadmills come in many types and several different designs. The first most important thing about a treadmill is that it doesnt hurt your dog when you start to condition one.

The second most important thing to do is to have it turn freely with no drag! A thirty pound bitch should not have to labor at any given pace. It is much easier to get a dog to work that has never worked a mill before if it turns easily. A hard pulling piece of junk knows noth-ing about your dogs kidney function.

Also, a treadmill must not have a brake of any kind. I could have said should not but Im telling you must not! If a dog is allowed to stand on a treadmill without working (lets say you have a brake and the brake is on), he might stop working if you leave him alone for a mi-nute;he might even change his mind about working at all!

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The best way to attach your dog on a treadmill is by using a 4 Point Hook-Up.The 4 PointHook-up has to be adjustable so it fits all size dogs. And, never use a harness on a treadmill. Ifa dog is running about ten miles an hour and decides to stop all of a sud-den, the harness will pull his shoulders out of the sockets or break his front legs. The 4 Point Hook-up with a collar provides enough slack to prevent any harm to the dog.

It also prevents him from jumping off the treadmill and hanging himself. The same hook-up wont let your dog get too close to the back orfront where he will pinch his toes or break his toenails. Do not unhook your dog and drag him off the mill or let him jump down. The belt will turn when he tries to follow you and he will break his toe-nails off in the cracks between the boards.

Do not leave your mill out in the rain and/or snow. No treadmill is build to with-stand the elements. I don't care what they may tell you. If there's wheel bearings, un-treated metals ie:bolts and etc. it should be kept out of the weather.Breakage due to children running on the mill. Believe it or not, I've seen kids running and playing on a mill I built. Nothing broke, but you never know what kids will do.

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HIGHEST QUALITY MATERIALS, UNEQUALLED CRAFTSMANSHIP!

Engineering Specs

FRAME

My frame design with the slanted back keeps your dog from busting up his tail while running.

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The frames are built out of 4x4 cm. The highest point of the horizontal frame on the BALKAN BOYS' MILL is 81,5cm. O.D. from the ground up, with NO horizontal framing in the way of loading your dog, and low enough to easily load your dog, the frame length is 122 cm. long O.D., by 50,5 cm. wide I.D. The front is only 1" higher in front, because on average a bull dog is 3/4" to 1" higher at his hips than his shoulders. So he can run more easily on my mill, than running down the road. It is a cut away design so you can put yourdog on and off the mill with no trouble.

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BELTS

I use the Gum belting with 2 or 3 ply-poly Clipper Lace. The Clipper Lace is stronger than just overlapping thebelting, and allows you to remove and replace the belt in seconds, should you ever need to for cleaning and etc. It also helps elimi-nate slat rock and noise bybeing a thicker belting.To fasten the slats to the belts, I'm using Thermoplastic 2 ply-poly belting,with a thickness of 0,2 cm. For su-perfree turning mill, I use a belt that is 0,1cm in thickness, this belt is super light in weight, fast, but for me very loud!

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The standard belt that is used on the mills, are a gum belting with a 2 or 3 Clip-per Lace,with a thickness of 0,3 - 0,5 cm. For proffesional Model I use PVC belt-ing (0,2 cm. in thickness) with a Clipper Lace it is light weight, but yet, heavy enough to cut down on slat rock, and is very durable, the overall weight of the belt-ing material per mill is 1,1 kg. Forsuper free turning mill, I use a belt that is 0,1 cm in thickness, this belt is super light in weight, total overall weight per mill is 0,6 kg. per mill set up, very light, fast, but loud! Thisbelt is for those who want serious wind! And for those who are looking for a quieter mill I use a gum belt that is 0,3 - 0,5 cm in thickness, the thicker belt helps to eliminate any slat rock, (slat rock cre-ates noise, from the slats rolling between the roller bed wheels) so when ordering a mill look at these options, on how you want your mill to run.

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SLAT

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I make my slats out of Oak. They are5,6 cm. wide, 0,8 cm. thick, and 34 cm.long. The Slat I build has 5,6 cm.(2-1/4")wide boards. Any with more than 2-1/4"boards is hard to keep from untracking. These slats are stronger and lighterthan the plastic slats used by one millbuilder, so they don't flex too much,which has caused dogs toenails to be ripped off, and toes cut and/or pinched.

I am using Oak, oak strong, looks nice and will last longer, they are 0,8 cm. wide, 5,6 cm.thick, and 34 cm. long, it is very strong. I checked out using Lexan, and some other plastic type materials for slats, but they will be considerably heav-ier than the Oak slats if they are made thick enough to keep from over-flexing. Oak will last longer than Pine, and won't overflex like plastic slats of the same weightand thickness.

The Slat I build has 5,6 cm.(2-1/4")wide boards. Any with more than 2-1/4" boards is hard to keep from untracking.

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MAIN WHEELS

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I use 6" Aluminum Wheels or 8" Plastic Wheels with 2 Ball Bearings for my MainWheels. These wheels are precision wheels.

I use 6" the highest quality spun aluminum main wheels, aluminum hubs with dualprecision sealed ball bearings, and stainless steel axles! Also I use 8" PVC main wheels forProffesional Model! Each of the 4 end wheels have an up-down-back-forward-in and out.

ROLLER WHEELS

My Roller Bed Rails are made of 4 x 4 x 0,3cm. or 5 x 5x 0,5cm angle iron, tah eliminates virtually all the vibration, caused by the Belt and Roller Bed Wheels, that runs through the frame,which causes excessive noise and it has a 98cm. running surface. Plenty long enough fordogs up to 25-27 kg. Dogs over 25 kg. willprobably be too tall,wide, and long, besidesbeing too heavy for this mill.

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Do not run dogs over 60 lbs on this mill.It is also up to you to keep the wheel bear-ingsproperly lubed, should they ever require it.

The running surface

My Standard Modeluses 52mm ,,Salomon wheels"with ABEC 1'sbearing or 60mm polyurethane wheels,are better than the 72mm or 80mm wheels in one row, because they have less distance between the peaks of the wheels, which helps prevent "slat rock".

My Professional Model uses 72mm, "Salomon wheels" with ABEC 5's or ABEC 7's bearings. Run 46 wheels (with double row) and a total of 92 bearings per mill, it is much quieter, when using urethane wheels and bearings, but is more expensive.

My Model for BIG DOGS use 72mm with ABEC 5's or ABEC 7's bearings. Run 48-52 wheels (with double row) and total of 104 bearings per mill.

Frames

My frame design with the slanted back keeps your dog from busting up his tail while running.

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