December 09, 2010

Dazzle killed his ball machine

Well the Go Dog Go machine is dead.  It was a used model, so I don't know how much use it got prior to our getting it, but it died.  We're going to see if my brother in law can fix it.  Because of the snow and ice (and cold) I'm reluctant to throw the ball for Dazzle.  So I have been motivated to start on a new adventure.

My goal:
Create a stationary platform for this wheel to spin on:
It's a wheel my dad made and Dazzle has been having fun with it, but I want to put it on a platform with rollers so he can use it as a stationary exercise wheel.  I started with the challenge of finding rollers (like those in a conveyor belt).  But all the places I called had "minimum orders" of $50 or $100 and the rollers weren't going to cost that much. 

Eventually (thanks dad!) I found a company that had some in stock and it was in Cinci.  The nice guy there took pity on my plight and GAVE me the rollers for free!  So I got the rollers today and then stopped by Home Depot on my way home. 

Unfortunately, the company with the rollers didn't have the mounting brackets to go with them, so I was doing some brainstorming on how to create brackets with the guys at Home Depot and they liked the challenge so much they offered to pick-up the wheel from my house and build the frame for me!!  I can't believe my luck!  So hopefully before the end of next week, I'll have it back, ready to go and will post some video of Dazzle using his new exercise wheel :-)