Making a prototype treadmill desk

Posted on | August 4, 2013 | 1 Comment

I’ve been interested in a standing or treadmill desk for some time, but had not found the time and materials to create one.

That changed a few weeks ago when a neighbor had a decent treadmill that they gave me rather than moving it to their new home. (actually, they were trying to sell it, I was not interested in that price, and they surreptitiously left it in the driveway when they left with their last load)

a shot from behind looking at the deck and control panel

Finished a prototype desk this weekend using a Weslo cadence ex14. It is fairly well reviewed online. It happens to fold, a space saver model, so that’s a nice feature, though I’m not certain I can set up the desk in a way that keeps that feature useable.

the original material I had to work with

the treadmill in its folded state

I removed the control panel from the handrails and cut off the outside 1/3 on each side with a hack saw. It was filler material between the central box that held the control system and the attachment point for each hand rail.

the control console for the treadmill that I removed and modified

These are not my photos btw, I grabbed some example shots off the web . . . I was thinking as I was doing it I should be taking pics, but didn’t –

the lower photos of the working prototype are mine.

another shot of the treadmill – the white curved handrails were removed

The handrails attached with two bolts on each side – I removed them (mine were gray, you can see them here, though they are white in this shot).

The wiring from under the base – the motor control system – to the control panel came up through the right base strut, and then went through the right hand rail. I had to open the control panel box and unplug everything so I could pull it back through and out of the hand rail – there were about four connections/plugs.

the control panel after it was freed from the console

Some of the examples I found online keep the hand rails and use them to support some sort of work surface – but in this case, the short, angled, curved rails were not going to work for that.

the wire shelving unit that I used for the initial prototype

I had a wire shelving unit – InterMetro brand – in the basement. I think this will eventually move upstairs to my office, but I wanted to try it out before lugging it up there, so it is in the living room for the moment. So for now it is a likely temp setup with a laptop.

the finished working test product

I set one shelf to go just above the two base struts, and another a few notches down from the top at work surface height when I stand on the belt. It takes at least a couple of shelves to stabilize the rail and column setup.

another shot of the test-ready treadmill desk

It did not take long at all to get the hang of typing and walking. The wife says she thinks I could walk a bit faster. My biggest concerns at this point are that the motor tends to have a relatively loud hum when operating, no matter the speed. I’m also trying to figure out just how to set it up in my office – whether to continue using it with the laptop long term, or to figure out a way to set it up with my dual-screen desktop computer.

from on the treadmill desk – laptop goes top center next to the mouse

on the treadmill looking down at the front of the platform and the lower shelf and control panel

Comments

One Response to “Making a prototype treadmill desk”

Brad
September 12th, 2013 @ 6:20 pm

recent story on the trend:

http://www.reporterherald.com/the-bottom-line/ci_24079482/is-your-work-desk-helping-you-exercise

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Making a prototype treadmill desk

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