Need help fixing a roll up shade

November 8, 2009 9:27 PM

Please help me to repair a roll up matchstick shade or refer me to a web site with directions in plain English.

I bought an 8ft. matchstick shade and spent hours just installing the 3 hooks and hanging it, then discovered the drawstring on the right side had pulled loose from the pulley mechanism.

Obviously, I'm not mechanically inclined, but I'd rather try to fix it than return it to the store and start over. The problem string attaches at the top-back of the blind and should loop down under the bottom, and up to the pulley. The string is attached as it should be at the back, but just hangs straight down. I've tried feeding it through the pulley, but there doesn't seem to be room - and even if it did fit, it seems like it must need to attach to something - but what?

I know this is a longshot, but I'm hoping it will make sense to someone with experience fixing roll up blinds. Thanks!

posted by kbar1 to home & garden (5 comments total)

Let's start with some assumptions:

a) If you hung up three hooks, are there, in fact, three drawstrings? Or two? (I understand that there is only one that has come out of the pulley.)
b) There is only one pulley that the drawstring should go through. If you have only one string that is hanging loose, then there should be one "empty slot" on the pulley lacking a string. Is this the case?
c) Drawstrings that are properly strung through the pulley have a knob of some sort on the end like any typical blind pull.
d) Everything else about the blind is OK.

If all of the above is true, you should have a pulley with a slot open waiting for the drawstring, but it might be too tight a fit to push the drawstring back through it. Look at how the other drawstring(s) pass through the pulley, (back to front or front to back? Left to right or right to left?). Get a piece of thread and thread it through the pulley. Attach the end of the thread that is on the side of the pulley that is the side the other drawstrings are coming from, to the end of the loose drawstring. Carefully pull the drawstring through the slot on the pulley by slowly pulling on the thread. When you have the drawstring pulled through the pulley, find an old button or something else with a hole in it and tie it to the end of the drawstring.

If some or all of this doesn't help, let me know what will help you further. I'll check back in the morning.
posted by Old Geezer at 9:50 PM on November 8, 2009

There are three hooks but only two strings that can loop under the blind.

On the left side the string attaches to the top-back of the blind with a plastic clasp, then loops under the blind. At the front top the string feeds along the left side of a wheel and stretches across the length of the blind. There the string runs over the top of a second wheel and drops down through a catch & release type of mechanism. The string has a cord-stop a few inches below this mechanism, but the string then continues down another couple of feet to a wooden knob (end of that string).

On the right side, the string runs through a plastic piece (not a clasp) on the top-back of the blind. One end of the string has a cord stop and the wooden knob at the end of the string. The other end of the string is much longer and just hangs straight down and puddles on the ground - there is a little plastic knob at this end of this string (not like the decorative wooden knob).

I'm not seeing where there might be a slot open, I just see one opening used for the catch & release thingy (the pulley itself?). Should I try to feed the little plastic end piece through the pulley. It looks like that will plug the catch & release mechanism.

Everything else about the blind appears to be ok - except that the short end of the string on the right side, is hanging down the back of the blind. I don't know if I'm suppose to have one pull cord in the front and one in the back (that doesn't seem right to me) or if I'm suppose to squeeze the wooden knob through the matchsticks to get it to the front of the blind. I don't think this is related to the problem I'm having - but as I said, I'm not mechanically inclined, so I may be wrong.

My 80 year old father will be coming by tomorrow to take a look, but his inclination is to take it down and return it to the store for being defective. Old Geezer, it sounds like you know what you're talking about, so I'm planning to check back in the morning and hope that you'll be able to help me to fix the blind I have. Thank you so much!
posted by kbar1 at 10:58 PM on November 8, 2009

Can you post a photo of the troublesome end?
posted by flabdablet at 1:09 AM on November 9, 2009

You mentioned "a plastic piece (not a clasp) on the top-back of the blind." I'm going to assume that, if you pulled on the string until the end came to this plastic piece that it would not pull through it. If that is true, pull on the end of the string that has the wooden knob on it until all of the string has fed through and the "little plastic knob...not like the decorative wooden knob" is pulled up to the plastic piece. You should have a whole bunch of string hanging down with a wooden knob on its end.

Now here's where we have a problem. You mention that the string from the left "runs over the top of a second wheel..." I believe that that second wheel is right in front of the clip at the back of the blind. In essence, if you were able to look with xray and regular vision, you would see the clip in back, then the blind itself, and then the wheel in front. They would all be close together. Make sense? The drawstring that is now hanging down (with the decorative knob on the end) needs to come back up the front of the blind and join its friend, the other drawstring, in going through the wheel from left to right, and then down through the "catch and release mechanism." Some little person in Asia, getting paid 25 cents a day failed to do that when they assembled the blind.

I can't see the wheel, or the catch and release mechanism, but I assume there is no way to slip the string through them because both the knob and the cord stop are too big. So, we're going to get adventurous. Take a pair of scissors and cut the Puddled cord right next and above the cord stop. You now have a long piece of string in one hand and the short piec that had the cord stop and knob in the other.

Release the tension on the cord that is going through the catch and release thingy so you can pull the cord that controls the left side of the blind up about a foot. Reach up to the top of the blind where the cord from the left goes through the wheel on the right. Pull that cord back about a foot so it kind of sags down in fron of the blind.

Attach the end of the string from the right side (the one that you just cut away from the cord stop) to the cord that is sagging down in front of the blind. I suggest you use a piece of adhesive tape to do this. The two cords should be side-by-side with the end of the "bad boy" cord pointing toward the wheel on the right. Don't use too much adhesive tape to stick them together, because we want them both to go through the wheel.

Now feed the two tapes that are taped together through the wheel. Pull gently on the "good boy" string from the right and push the two of them from the left of the wheel. They should grudgingly slide through. If you succeeded in getting them both through the wheel, then feed them both through the catch and release mechanism. You should be able to pull both of the strings freely through the wheel until both of them are taut against the bottom of the blind and each extends up its own side of the blind to a wheel, one on the left and one one the right. If they look like they are where they should be, take a deep breath and smile.

If you were able to do those two things successfully, you are almost done. Look at the wooden knob. If you push the string backwards through the knob you will see that it is tied in a knot to keep you from pulling the knob off the end of the string. Cut the knot off of the string and pull the knob off of the string. Now feed the drawstring that has no knob through the top of this knob. That may be a bit hard but you will ultimately succeed. Tie a big knot on the end of the string to keep it from pulling back through the knob. The best knot to do the job is a simplt overhand knot with two or three extra loops in it. Think about the first half of the knot you make to tie your shoes. You go around the lace one to make the knot. I this case, go around three times. That will make a bigger knot that will have a hard time pulling back out.

I'll check back in a couple of hours to see how you've succeeded. I have faith in you. You can do it.
posted by Old Geezer at 8:11 AM on November 9, 2009

Old Geezer - thanks for your clear directions and for your confidence in me!

I believe that that second wheel is right in front of the clip at the back of the blind. In essence, if you were able to look with xray and regular vision, you would see the clip in back, then the blind itself, and then the wheel in front. They would all be close together. Make sense?

Your description of the mechanism was spot on! I followed your directions and in less than 20 minutes I was able to raise and lower the blinds without a hitch!
posted by kbar1 at 3:17 PM on November 9, 2009