Roger, are you talking about using a solid piece of phenolic? Or is that something you put on top of a piece of wood? If it's something that goes on top, what would be use to adhere the phenolic to the wood?
Roger, are you talking about using a solid piece of phenolic? Or is that something you put on top of a piece of wood? If it's something that goes on top, what would be use to adhere the phenolic to the wood?
To secure the phenolic to the plywood, try contact cement, commonly used in securing kitchen countertop laminates.
All consumer retail (mass market) treadmills have a deck surface laminate composed of melamine formaldehyde. It is essentially the same material found in Formica countertops. Its hardness is relatively high for a polymer, which provides good wear resistance. It also gives fairly low friction, especially when polished for smoothness. And there is another similarity between motorized retail treadmill decks and cheap countertops: MDF base material. Conversely, many of those extremely inexpensive self-powered treadmills (which are suitable only for walking) utilize plywood instead of MDF, but paradoxically, plywood is the superior of the two materials!
Plywood is not only far more dimensionally stable, but is also far stronger for its weight than MDF. Moreover, MDF is subject to fatigue cracking, which is not a problem with plywood. The one and only reason why MDF is found in retail motorized treadmills is COST. It is simply cheaper than plywood. So why then is plywood used for those cheap nonmotorized treadmills? Weight savings. Those machines are marketed mainly for petite single women having limited living space (such as an apartment), who may need to fold and stow the machine in a closet. For space and weight savings, their plywood decks typically measure only about 41" long x 15" wide, contributing to a total machine weight under 60 lbs.
If the deck of a motorized treadmill has a lengthwise crack propagating along its centerline, its MDF material is mostly to blame, but part of the cause is the poor design of the machine's cushioning feature. Essentially that cushioning is achieved via simple deflection of the front end of the deck, like a diving board. In order for that to happen, the frame cannot have crossmembers supporting any part of the deck where deflection occurs. So without crossmember support, the centerline of the MDF deck gets concentrated shear-loading along its centerline.
True commercial treadmills never have MDF decks. Moreover, they generally don't employ "diving board" type cushioning, because their frames are robustly built with crossmembers supporting the front, middle, and rear portions of the deck. So true commercial treadmill decks never undergo centerline cracking.
I found these instructions on how to make a plywood deck. I'm going to give it a try and I'll let you all know.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/285925-how-to-make-a-walking-board-for-a-treadmill/
No luck. I tried a laminate material but it caused too much friction.Worked for a few weeks. Then the motor started "bogging down". I think its causing too many amps to be drawn and now its current limiting the motor. Anyway, I should have just bought a new board.
Hi, maybe I can help. I own two Precor treadmills. They are designed to flip the deck when first side wears out. They have 1" thick industrial strength MDF ( medium density fiberboard) I contacted Precor and they told me the material that they laminate to MDF, I can't remember exactly what the name was but you could ask a cabinet shop or laminate counter top fabricator and they could lay this up for you or sell u materials. You could do it yourself and buy materials from local plywood supplier and laminate yourself. 3/4" is probably to thin to hold up to pounding. You would also want to find out what kind of contact glue is used water based or solvent?
The problem with hard wood is expansion across the width and delamination of glue joints. I would call Precor and they would tell what technical name of what black plastic is. MDF comes in 4'x 8' or 5'x 10' and larger sheets and is heavy. Local cabinet shop might have smaller piece left over that fits your size closer, and would sell it to you. I can tell you how to lay up If you find it feasible to do yourself. Also you will have to do both sides or you risk warping or as you have experienced, cracking. Or as you said, buy new one. Good luck.
I think the main reason your first attempt failed could have been only laminating one side. I've read a few of the other posters and some actually sound very authoritative but have no idea of what they are talking about. I was a custom cabinetmaker for over twenty years. Don't try melamine or plastic laminate. The black plastic that is used is solid through and through. Heat is issue for type of glue that is used.
One more thing the deck material that Precor uses needs no waxing. And to the posters debating on the expansion or not of hardwood, it is not uncommon for a panel to expand up to 1/2" across wth. but not length. On a maple counter top they turn the stave or rip on edge and then laminate(glue). The other way is to seal all exposed edges after glue up.
The Treadmill Doctors sells a Mylar kit that is supposed to work on top of the MDF. It wraps around the board length wise and attaches on the bottom. I would like to know if anyone has tried this.
I would think maybe countertop laminate on some plywood or MDF would work really well.
[quote]InWyo wrote:
"I'm pretty sure Melamine is what you want."
The plastic surface of melamine is what you'd want, ie, basic laminate use in cheaper kitchens, or phenolic resin - same thing. Ideally, a teflon laminate would be best for the "slickness" factor.
What you DON'T want is what's underneath the Melamine's plastic surface!
... and that is particleboard! Nor do you want MDF! That's about the cheapest and least strongest crap there is! Think about it, particleboard = glued together sawdust & chips - absolutely no longitudinal (long grain strength).
MDF (medium density fiberboard) is nothing more than compressed brown paper grocery bag fibers = paper! Think about the force & pounding that running deck is taking several times per minute. Sure - paper and sawdust are nice and soft run on, but they just don't have any strength - either by themselves or with glue!
My deck is broken, and no wonder! To replace it, I'm using 3/4" void free plywood (you can also pick that stuff up at Home Cheapo for not much more than Melamine, and like someone else posted earlier, the more cross grain plies/the better, Then either glue on some plastic counter top laminate sheet stock; or in my case I may use some leftover prefinished 3/4" plywood (the film finish - also made of phenolic resins - that's put on that is very slick & tough to boot). The sheet metal reinforcement makes sense as well, but may not be necessary. Good luck all, but PLEASE,.. NO MDF or Melamine!
You can have different types of replacements, more strong than originals, take a look: http://www.partsfortreadmill.com/parts-for-treadmill/treadmill-deck-replacement/
Yes this thread is old but it was revived...
Look for a non-plank treadmill, aka a Woodway. That's a whole other animal that won't wear out the same way and better to run on. Uses rollers like ball bearings and has a tank tread for a belt.
They sure are expensive though.
My Precor is a commercial grade treadmill, it has a 1" thick " MDF" core deck
that is laminated on both sides. There are "different GRADES" of "MDF" if I were to go to a supplier I would request "INDUSTRIAL" strength "MDF" It might be important to end up with the same "THICKNESS" as oringinal deck, because that was how it was designed. The reason people think melamine is a good substitute is that both sides can have melamine on them, but the main reason is cost! There are different qualities and different materials in the core, but you are probably wasting your time """ DON'T""" use melamine.
Call the manuf. of your treadmill and talk to tech.support and they will tell the materials in your deck. It is more economical to replace deck from Treadmill Doctor than to buy the "RIGHT" materials to make a quality deck.
I have a NordicTrack. The running board was causing a horrible noise. There is a sheet of plastic over the running board that has crack/tears. I could see all I needed was that plastic sheet. I couldn't see from any posts how to replace this part. I called NordicTrack and asked them and two told me I needed to replace the entire deck, $250 plus $60 shipping. I was told the new board comes with the plastic sheet. On the second call I asked if there was anyone to ask if I could just replace the plastic sheet or if they could tell me what material was used. She did and returned stating that they have a "Mylar Fix Kit." The kit was $50 plus about $15 for shipping. Sounded good to me. I ordered (happy I wasn't having to pay for the entire running board. I got off the phone and looked up the Treadmill Mylar fix kit. $17 + shipping. I cancelled the previous and am ecstatic I found the solution. If someone else put it together, there is a way to repair it.
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SLK wrote:
I have a NordicTrack. The running board was causing a horrible noise. There is a sheet of plastic over the running board that has crack/tears. I could see all I needed was that plastic sheet. I couldn't see from any posts how to replace this part. I called NordicTrack and asked them and two told me I needed to replace the entire deck, $250 plus $60 shipping. I was told the new board comes with the plastic sheet. On the second call I asked if there was anyone to ask if I could just replace the plastic sheet or if they could tell me what material was used. She did and returned stating that they have a "Mylar Fix Kit." The kit was $50 plus about $15 for shipping. Sounded good to me. I ordered (happy I wasn't having to pay for the entire running board. I got off the phone and looked up the Treadmill Mylar fix kit. $17 + shipping. I cancelled the previous and am ecstatic I found the solution. If someone else put it together, there is a way to repair it.
Can you post a link to the Mylar Fix Kit you bought? Was it difficult to apply? Did it come with screws? I am replacing the running belt on my 4300R (20" belt) and noticed the plastic was torn. Contacting the company got me the same result as you
I found the perfect replacement treadmill deck. I have a Reebok ZR10 running machine and the MDF board snapped, probably because I weigh 18 stone (the top allowed weight limit for this machine!). Found it on eBay for £90 with free delivery and they even cut it to my custom size (I had to drill the holes myself but was easy using my old deck to mark out the holes). It's made of plywood and feels much stronger than the original. I've been using it for 3 months every day during lockdown and it works great.
Here's the ebay link:
Hope it helps others :)
Quit being cheap.
Buy a Woodway to begin with and you won't have these problems.
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Running for Bowerman Track Club used to be cool now its embarrassing
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
Rest in Peace Adrian Lehmann - 2:11 Swiss marathoner. Dies of heart attack.