Eigenvector wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jul 26, 9:07 pm, "Eigenvector" wrote:
A long while back I posted a question about repairing a treadmill
deck. Most of the responses were helpful pointing me in the
direction of oak as the decking material of choice.

The deck is 27"x48"x11/16th

I would try Baltic Birch plywood. This is not the junk plywood you
get from Home depot, it is all birch plys throughout the thickness.
You can get it in 5/8" (actually a metric size close to 5/8") and
shim it at the 6 support points.

Well maybe I should clarify.

Mind you I'm not critisizing your response at all.
I could get whatever I needed to be sure - but that's not really the
point of the post. The point is how to create a stable running deck
from multiple wood sections. The answers I got a while back pointed
me in the direction of oak and this post isn't really about what the
BEST material is, but how to make it work with multiple sections. I
heard some very helpful responses pointing me to oak flooring
material - seems like a decent way to do it. But again the
question -
how to mount it so that the running platform is stable and still
maintain its dimensions. At this point it's an exercise (forgive
the
pun) in how to make it work, rather than practical woodworking. I
haven't seen the deck of very good treadmills, so I don't know how
they do it. I've been told that they use oak decks -but potentially
they use a much better support system which allows them to do that.
And that may just be the answer - "can't do it on your model, sorry
buddy". I've got 3 more MDF decks just waiting for that
inevitability.

That's very likely to be your answer. To use planking you need
supports designed for planking. From what you're saying yours don't
appear to be.

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--John
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(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)