{"id":560,"date":"2013-08-04T16:36:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-04T23:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/?p=560"},"modified":"2013-08-04T16:36:54","modified_gmt":"2013-08-04T23:36:54","slug":"making-prototype-treadmill-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/making-prototype-treadmill-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a prototype treadmill desk"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been interested in a standing or treadmill desk for some time, but had not found the time and materials\u00a0to create one.<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>

a shot from behind looking at the deck and control panel<\/p><\/div>\n

Finished a prototype desk this weekend using\u00a0a 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.<\/div>\n
\n
\"the<\/a>

the original material I had to work with<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"the<\/a>

the treadmill in its folded state<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"the<\/a>

the control console for the treadmill that I removed and modified<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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 –<\/div>\n
the lower photos of the\u00a0working prototype are mine.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"another<\/a>

another shot of the treadmill – the white curved handrails were removed<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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).<\/div>\n
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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"the<\/a>

the control panel after it was freed from the console<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"the<\/a>

the wire shelving unit that I used for the initial prototype<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I had a wire shelving unit – InterMetro brand\u00a0– 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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"the<\/a>

the finished working test product<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"another<\/a>

another shot of the test-ready treadmill desk<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"from<\/a>

from on the treadmill desk – laptop goes top center next to the mouse<\/p><\/div>\n

\"on<\/a>

on the treadmill looking down at the front of the platform and the lower shelf and control panel<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been interested in a standing or treadmill desk for some time, but had not found the time to create one.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[228,376,374,375,373,370,372,371],"class_list":["post-560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-efficiency","tag-health","tag-office","tag-productivity","tag-standing-desk","tag-treadmill-desk","tag-treadmill-workstation","tag-walking-desk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shannonmarcom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}