Yes, they lock by pulling the cord to the right and releasing the knurled cylinder to pinch and hold the string in place.
fixmyblinds.com has cloth tape ladders if you want to go old school.
Happy Free Items
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phil
- Has many leather bound books
- Posts: 4616
- Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
- Location: Near Vancouver BC
Re: Happy Free Items
Thanks James.
the string ladders come in 2" so that would save a bunch of fiddling with the string.
I think I'd want to omit all the cheaply made little plastic parts. It seems they have these brass tube things that crimp on the cord somehow.
"These are used to attach the tops of the string ladders to the drum inside the headrail of the blind."
- from
https://fixmyblinds.com/products/clasps ... 5867183151
I can make a bunch of little knurled brass rollers but I wonder if the rest can be made of wood and metal?
I have a bunch of expensive and complex vertical blinds. they have plastic paddles about 3-4 inches wide, but then a cover that looks a bit like jute. the problem with them other than that I'd need to resize them is they have a aluminum track along the top, so they can slide open. I think normally a valance is used to hide the track but I dont want valances, they are a 70's thing to me. I think ill pass them along. I got them free from someone that sold a house and was told to remove them as part of the contract.. they thought it was nuts because they paid lots for them.
I found curtains but they need resizing. everyone I show them to thinks they look pretty dated but they are light green not really a bad pattern they have a rubber backing, good quality. buying all new cloth ones sounds expensive.
im thinking of either making wood ones similar to yours or ...using roll up blinds and simply switching the plastic roll for canvas, or similar. I think if I went to the effort to make the wooden ones it would look really nice and if they were done in a sequence perhaps not a massive amount of work. cutting a bunch of wood strips is easy but Im not sure about the mechanics of the parts along the top. If I can buy the strings that's solved.
what I have up now is real garbage. The roll up blinds are probably the quickest and easiest solution, I have the canvas. The wood ones would really look nice I think.
the string ladders come in 2" so that would save a bunch of fiddling with the string.
I think I'd want to omit all the cheaply made little plastic parts. It seems they have these brass tube things that crimp on the cord somehow.
"These are used to attach the tops of the string ladders to the drum inside the headrail of the blind."
- from
https://fixmyblinds.com/products/clasps ... 5867183151
I can make a bunch of little knurled brass rollers but I wonder if the rest can be made of wood and metal?
I have a bunch of expensive and complex vertical blinds. they have plastic paddles about 3-4 inches wide, but then a cover that looks a bit like jute. the problem with them other than that I'd need to resize them is they have a aluminum track along the top, so they can slide open. I think normally a valance is used to hide the track but I dont want valances, they are a 70's thing to me. I think ill pass them along. I got them free from someone that sold a house and was told to remove them as part of the contract.. they thought it was nuts because they paid lots for them.
I found curtains but they need resizing. everyone I show them to thinks they look pretty dated but they are light green not really a bad pattern they have a rubber backing, good quality. buying all new cloth ones sounds expensive.
im thinking of either making wood ones similar to yours or ...using roll up blinds and simply switching the plastic roll for canvas, or similar. I think if I went to the effort to make the wooden ones it would look really nice and if they were done in a sequence perhaps not a massive amount of work. cutting a bunch of wood strips is easy but Im not sure about the mechanics of the parts along the top. If I can buy the strings that's solved.
what I have up now is real garbage. The roll up blinds are probably the quickest and easiest solution, I have the canvas. The wood ones would really look nice I think.
Re: Happy Free Items
Matchstick roll up blinds are nice too.
Phil, you should get your hands on a sewing machine if you don't already have one. It's easy to sew what you want for windows, everything's square like carpentry. It's too bad I'm so far away because I've got dozens of machines.
Valances of one style or another go back a lot further.
Phil, you should get your hands on a sewing machine if you don't already have one. It's easy to sew what you want for windows, everything's square like carpentry. It's too bad I'm so far away because I've got dozens of machines.
Valances of one style or another go back a lot further.
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phil
- Has many leather bound books
- Posts: 4616
- Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
- Location: Near Vancouver BC
Re: Happy Free Items
Manalto wrote:Matchstick roll up blinds are nice too.
Phil, you should get your hands on a sewing machine if you don't already have one. It's easy to sew what you want for windows, everything's square like carpentry. It's too bad I'm so far away because I've got dozens of machines.
Valances of one style or another go back a lot further.
I've got a few machines too. an old singer in a lunchkit shaped case with a knee control,, a table model from about the 40's with spade legs and a nice cabinet. I have some singer open arm featherweights but they are super valuable and collectable.. so much so that I'm a bit afraid of scratching them.
we have others, My girlfriend has an open arm machine that is industrial quality , made in Japan , weirdly it has absolutely no name on it or in it's manual, but super heavy construction. Learning to sew properly, is another thing.