A couple of months ago, I gave myself a task: Either I'll find a handyman to fix my bedroom blind pull tape or I'll do it myself #DIY
From the frequent, daily raising and lowering of the blind, the retractable tape has become damaged and has begun to snag when passing over the small roller mechanism.
A simple mechanism, but when it blocks, it is difficult to raise and even more difficult to lower the blind.
And it needs to be solved.
I picked up the phone and called a few ads for blinders offering their services.
Several options are offered: The price for replacing only the belt, on the existing mechanism, as well as the price for replacing the complete mechanism with a new belt.
Approximately the same prices and including the cost of arrival, for that one blind, 50e.
But in this case, the price is not the biggest problem.
The problem is that the masters do not have free appointments and that I would have to wait a month and combine their appointments with my business obligations... Difficult story...
On Saturday, I went to an outdoor market, where they sell everything from needles to locomotives.
My attention was drawn to a stall with tapes, which looked like toilet tapes to me. When I asked the seller, he confirmed it, but also asked me why I don't buy a complete mechanism, which already has 6 meters of tape in it.
"Well, probably because it's expensive," I told him.
"You probably think it's expensive because the repairman asked you 50, 60e for the replacement? It's not expensive at all, the whole set costs 5e. Blind repairmen take advantage of people's ignorance and charge more than they should. However, if you have a screwdriver, a hammer and a little dexterity, you can replace it yourself."
Why not, I thought. I've never done it before, but with a YouTube tutorial, I'll get the hang of it.
I bought the mechanism kit and got to do it on Sunday.
As I thought, the hardest part was removing the cover of the blind box.
After I dealt with the dust in the box, which I vacuumed and wiped, it was much easier (more pleasant and cleaner) to work.
All you really need is a screwdriver and a rubber-coated hammer, so as not to damage the aluminum cover.
A more detailed tutorial is also needed, because if you find one without a description of all the steps. It can easily happen that, even if you include logic and brain, you do something wrong, so you have to repeat the procedure. That happened to me too 🙂
In the picture with the red frame, you can tell what... Before putting the blind shaft back in, I did not switch the beginning of the blind to the correct side and it was not possible to attach it to the shaft.
I dismantled the shaft by unscrewing and pulling the plastic bumpers so that enough space can be obtained to remove the shaft.
After that, I removed the old tape from the coil and wound a new one, paying attention to the direction of installation.
After that I attached the lifter mechanism and put the shaft back in the box (I did this again, because as I mentioned above, I didn't put the start of the blind in a good position).
I attached the hooks that hold the blind to the shaft, and before returning the box lid, I tried how it all works.
And definitely the hardest part, was putting the lid of the box back in place.
If I didn't have a hammer with a rubber tip, I would never have been able to get the cover back into the groove on the top.
Tried it once, the second time, the third time I succeeded.
The replacement of the shutter puller was successfully carried out, at a cost of 5e and an hour of my time. If it wasn't my first time and if I hadn't documented every step with photos, which I'm showing you here now, I believe I would have finished in half an hour.
And that's why, in order to save those 45e, I decided to buy some Hive, which I will put in my stack on May 1st and thus in #HPUD, additionally strengthen my HP.
Double benefit, I learned something new, I invested in Hive with the saved money.