Carpet Mill Plans

I've seen on here and other forums, where people were asking about how to build a carpet mill. I've built several and took photos to show how easy it is to build your own. For the frame I used 2x4 cut to 60". The inside frame supports are cut to 24" and then using a Kreig Jig, I drilled pocket holes to give a strong, tight joint. The rollers are 23 3/4" conveyor rollers in 2" dia I picked up off eBay. I then placed a 1/2" 40"x24" plywood sheet on top of the supports with a sheet of shower board on top of that to help the carpet glide. The front leg is 18" with a 30 deg angle cut in, and the rears are 8" with a 15 deg angle. I then built vertical supports 30" tall and screwed in eyelets to hook to the harness.

I have built a number of them myself. It is not a project that is all that difficult. The key is how it works for the dogs who spin it. Most carpet mills made today are not so much a carpet mill as they are a belt mill. The carpet mills of yesteryear used a bulkier carpet, sliding on sanded plywood with the carpet sliding over stationery PVC pipe as a roller. Over time builders free'ed them up with better carpets, sliding surfaces and end rollers. A lot of the 'carpet mills' (belt mills) of today allow a dog to open up and spin in favorable comparison to slat mills while still driving the mill with each step. I have made a few that would make 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 revolutions with a hard hand pull.


Then there is the look. I can remember building the frames with 45'ed and mitered corners. Everything was glued and shot together with screws in the main frame. Every hole filled and sanded. Stained and re-stained several times. At the end of the day it had high end furniture quality structure and appearance. In the corner was my personal mill that was glued and shot butt-end. No filling. No sanding. No staining. Just a mill. Both worked the same but one had to be sold for a lot more to cover my time and efforts which had nothing to do with the mill's effectiveness.

Good looking mill. EWO

These plans look good. Although I like a slat mill better, there are some carpet mills that are really good.