Timeline for Using strong magnets for hanging window blinds
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
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| Mar 26, 2019 at 17:45 | comment | added | dandavis | Ha. I pulled one of the pre-oiled ones off the wall my first week; sent the cat airborne when they came down. And those were the "heavy" wide-leaf blinds, though mine were white instead of "wood", but I've done it since and oiling seems to reduce drag on even new blinds. The big tell is how effortlessly they lower; if noisy or slow at all, oiling will help. | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 17:44 | comment | added | JPhi1618 | You could use thicker wood for the "header" to try and avoid drooping or warping. Having a wood header as opposed to mounting the brackets directly gives you greater flexibility in where the bolts can be in the steel (if you go that route). And we're probably talking low carbon steel here. You can get a basic tap and drill bit for less than $20 for the 3-5 holes you need to make. | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 17:33 | comment | added | Rich | @dandavis Just so you know, JPhi's the one with the sticky blinds and the wife who doesn't know her own strength! My blinds aren't even up yet. (Although we have other shorter ones around the home in a similar style, and they're not sticky either.) | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 17:25 | comment | added | Rich |
It's an RSJ, steel I-frame, seems to be occupying an 8" square profile. The thickness at any one point will be at least 3/4", essentially solid steel given the size of the fasteners. My main concern with any framing is the width, and over time the horizontal part of that warping due to heat, which means it would need to be fixed to the RSJ. So, I'm either looking at buying a good quality >$100 tap & die set plus the drills and cutting compound for one screw, or if I'm going that route anyway, skip the framing and drill & tap holes for the brackets. Or weld up some threaded studs.
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| Mar 26, 2019 at 17:20 | comment | added | JPhi1618 | @dandavis, he said 2" deep, so I assumed he was talking about the larger faux wood type blinds. Those are just plain heavy even when they work well but that's a good tip for particularly hard blinds. | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 16:42 | comment | added | dandavis | you might consider greasing up the blind mechanism. On a house i moved into, the blinds took a ton of force to pull up; to the point where the cord dug into your hand slightly. I used 3in1 oil on anything up top that looked like it moved, and after, they could all be opened with a pinky... | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 14:54 | comment | added | JPhi1618 | The wooden internal frame for the window sounds like a good option. I would use 1" boards rather than plywood because the exposed edge of the plywood would be ugly. You may be able to drill a hole into the metal above the window, but without knowing how thick it is, etc, that might be very hard. And the "cordless" blinds you mention are much easier to operate and don't take as much force because of the counterbalancing/spring mechanism they use. They are nice, but can be expensive! | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 3:55 | comment | added | Rich | To your point about using mechanical fasteners, do you have any suggestions for how to do that, other than my fantasy box frame thing? | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 3:54 | comment | added | Rich | That's a very good consideration! All the other blinds in the home are magical "stringless" ones, and even though I looked for pull-string blinds for price comparison, couldn't find them. You pull the base vertically down from the center, and push it up at the same point. The force necessary for this is best characterised "easy at arm's length", it's really very little force at all. (I don't know how they work.) | |
| Mar 26, 2019 at 2:27 | history | answered | JPhi1618 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |