Planning: Building Dog Treadmill, Advice Requested

[Nehmo]

I don't know why I didn't know about them before, but I recently learned about dog treadmills. They look fun. There are a few Youtube videos explaining how to use and build one, but the designs could use improvement. [youtube]ZlVBeuzRQxM[/youtube].
I plan to build one, but I'm only in the planning stage. People usually make the actual belt from carpet. The rollers and their bearings concern me. I'd like to come up with a simple way to make the 2 main rollers and their bearings. A large rolling pin with ball bearings would be similar. I would prefer not to use any welding.
Any ideas?

 

[amberwolf]

There's often enough free or cheap treadmills on craigslist, freecycle, whatever your local equivalent is. I'd start with one of those and do whatever you need to do to get the desired result.

Something close to a couple decades ago I inherited a border collie with a weight problem, that thought she could catch all the moving herds of whatever on TV, but she was over twice the weight she should've been (closer to three) so she couldn't walk all that long much less run around. I recorded all the shots I could catch from all the nature shows of herds running away from the direction of the camera, and put them all on one videotape over and over, and put that in front of an actual treadmill (free from freecycle, IIRC) with the key lanyard tied to her collar so if she left the track it'd turn off. Instant hit, success; she'd keep going as long as she could then get back on later. Eventually she even learned how to turn the treadmill on and stick the key in herself; I had to leave it unplugged when I wasnt' around. :lol: