[HN Gopher] Do It Yourself Blind Repair
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Do It Yourself Blind Repair
        
       Author : nsajko
       Score  : 313 points
       Date   : 2024-01-02 17:31 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (fixmyblinds.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (fixmyblinds.com)
        
       | nsajko wrote:
       | A very nice for profit site. Their business model seems to be
       | selling parts for repairing window blinds, but the site is a
       | treasure trove of information on the topic of window blinds, and
       | the design of the site, organization and presentation of
       | information regarding this specialized topic are beautiful. Just
       | wanted to share it, no affiliation.
       | 
       | NB: despite the richness of information, the site fails to help
       | me because it's missing info on the specific type of blinds I was
       | interested in ;)
       | 
       | EDIT: relevant Wikipedia pages:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_blind
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_shutter
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_shutter
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_shutter_hardware
       | 
       | Window shutters are often used as/instead of window blinds in
       | Europe. The linked site sadly doesn't seem to cover shutters yet,
       | presumably because they're not popular in the USA currently.
       | EDIT: possible explanation by another commenter - "They're hella
       | illegal in America because of weird fire code rules":
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38845794
        
         | jsmith45 wrote:
         | Shutters are complicated, as they are really are several
         | different things.
         | 
         | For example, interior venetian shutters are closely related to
         | blinds, but are not especially common in the US. Blinds with
         | slats (venetian blinds) can perform a similar function, but can
         | be raised to prevent any blocking of view, while interior
         | venetian style shutters usually swing open and require
         | additional wall-space. such shutters might win on maximum
         | amount of light blocking (even vs wooden slat blinds) but that
         | will vary by shutter design. Cost is certainly a major factor
         | of them being uncommon (but far from unheard of, we even have
         | multiple different names for them) in much of the US.
         | 
         | Roller shutters could be considered an exterior equivalent to
         | roller blinds (or roller shades), although roller shutters are
         | often designed with proper blackout capability, which most
         | blinds and shades lack. I presume cost is one of the major
         | reasons these are rare in the US.
        
         | anthomtb wrote:
         | Are you talking about shutters on the exterior or the interior?
         | I have plantation shutters in my house, as do several of my
         | middle-America neighbors. Exterior shutters in these parts are
         | almost always decorative.
         | 
         | I like the look, ease of tilting the louvers up and down and,
         | most importantly, they are dead simple to clean. But they were
         | not cheap and not easy to install. I could have had high
         | quality fabric shades for half the cost and spent one-third the
         | time on installation.
         | 
         | Edit: Maybe its particular to what I installed (Veneta) but
         | good luck fix a single louver if one breaks. The frame which
         | contains them is either glued or very tightly press-fit. I'm
         | not saying it would be impossible but you'd need to be careful
         | and probably need to build some sort of jig for re-assembly.
        
           | sarchertech wrote:
           | Plantation shutters are very common on older houses in the
           | South. They're also pretty common on higher end newer houses.
           | I love them and had them installed when we moved into our
           | current house a couple years ago.
        
       | tomjakubowski wrote:
       | This site really has it all. Somebody took a whole lot of know-
       | how about window blinds, organized it, published it online, _and_
       | they found a way to make some money to sustain it, without being
       | obnoxious or burying the information in toxic SEO sludge. It's
       | like the sheldonbrown.com of window blinds.
       | 
       | I wish I knew a site like this on every subject.
       | 
       | This page is a _work of art_ , god damn it
       | https://fixmyblinds.com/pages/troubleshooter
        
         | romseb wrote:
         | I agree this is well-made.
         | 
         | > This site really has it all.
         | 
         | It doesn't have German Rolladen though.
        
           | torcete wrote:
           | That system is very common in Spain. I didn't know it was
           | German.
           | 
           | I had to fix several of them, sometimes with more success
           | than others. Yes, I would be nice to also have a guide por
           | the Rolladen system.
        
             | munk-a wrote:
             | They're _hella_ illegal in America because of weird fire
             | code rules - so you rarely see any support for them on US
             | oriented websites.
        
               | lostlogin wrote:
               | Assuming I've searched the right thing (are they external
               | blinds?), what would make this particularly bad in a
               | fire?
        
               | conductr wrote:
               | Perhaps difficulty escaping from interior.
        
               | munk-a wrote:
               | In Canada at least it's because fire-fighters aren't
               | trained to bypass them and, as you said, concerns about
               | people within being unable to escape.
        
               | yial wrote:
               | I would imagine that's due to egress rules?
               | 
               | But searching (and assuming I found the right thing) it
               | looks like they're made and installed in some places in
               | the USA.
               | 
               | Example: https://rolladenlv.com/
        
               | ajmurmann wrote:
               | Oh, no! Another thing prohibited by weird fire codes
               | despite more lax rules in Europe resulting in fewer
               | casualties. We can't even have nice apartments because of
               | fire code: https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-to-build-
               | more-family-size...
        
           | weaksauce wrote:
           | they named those shutters after my favorite food? crazy.
        
             | dark-star wrote:
             | Heh, those are called "Rouladen" but yeah they're
             | pronounced almost the same ;-)
             | 
             | And yes, they are delicious
        
         | StayTrue wrote:
         | sheldonbrown is a good benchmark.
        
           | doubled112 wrote:
           | It reminds me of how the Internet used to be in all of the
           | right ways.
        
         | dunham wrote:
         | It doesn't look like it covers what I had to deal with to fix
         | my Hunter Douglas blinds. (The kind you can lift and close by
         | hand and they magically hold their position.)
         | 
         | They have a spring loaded thing called a "motor" and something
         | with two cones and a string between them, called a
         | transmission.
         | 
         | I managed to restring the transmission, but the motor went zing
         | and broke inside when I was trying to wind it up again, so I
         | ended up having to buy a new motor (I think around $30).
        
         | ckcheng wrote:
         | > I wish I knew a site like this on every subject.
         | 
         | For water heaters, this was helpful to me once:
         | http://waterheatertimer.org
         | 
         | It is not a pretty site (author only knows of HTML tables?),
         | but for me it fulfilled the:
         | 
         | > Somebody took a whole lot of know-how about [x], organized
         | it, published it online
         | 
         | The site at first looks like just affiliate links, but has a
         | lot of useful info buried like:
         | 
         | http://waterheatertimer.org/How-it-works.html
         | 
         | http://waterheatertimer.org/How-to-troubleshoot-electric-pro...
        
         | epivosism wrote:
         | Yes, that's great! A site similar to this for anything related
         | to sleep seems to be:
         | 
         | https://www.sleeplikethedead.com/
         | 
         | It covers pillows, mattresses, etc. Labor love, makes no direct
         | money, committed to and open about how frequent manipulation is
         | in the industry. I followed its recommendations ~1.5 years ago
         | when furnishing a new house and was very happy with the results
         | fitting out 3 bedrooms.
         | 
         | Big Q: why is this still a niche situation? Why do only a few
         | sites have this trait? I think it has to do with culture,
         | habits, and laws for each language & culture. Does it vary by
         | language or region? Are some industries more manipulable than
         | others?
         | 
         | Similar: amazon somehow gets away with defaulting their search
         | result page to "Featured" which means "people pay us to lie to
         | you". They still do provide the option to sort by "best
         | selling" which at least theoretically is better. I'd expect a
         | mature citizenry to rebel and force them to have a better
         | default, or at least let you configure your default.
         | 
         | I'm very interested in characterizing variation on these axes
         | across the world and time. Is it really zero sum and always
         | identical? Or do some habits and traits of a region, language,
         | culture, education system make "better" systems more likely to
         | survive? Can we even actually fairly characterize better
         | systems? It sure feels like we can, but I've also seen people
         | arguing that for example there is no actual difference between
         | rent-seeking and "productive economic activity" on a
         | theoretical level.
        
         | drak0n1c wrote:
         | Here's one about shoe lacing:
         | https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/lacingmethods.htm
         | 
         | And they do shoe tying:
         | https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knots.htm
         | 
         | Knots in general: https://www.animatedknots.com/complete-knot-
         | list
        
         | jcul wrote:
         | This site about glue comes to mind: https://www.thistothat.com/
        
       | antiquark wrote:
       | Site seems to be missing the "Top-Down Bottom-Up" shades.
        
         | duskwuff wrote:
         | You mean like this one? https://fixmyblinds.com/pages/top-down-
         | bottom-up-cellular-sh...
        
           | antiquark wrote:
           | No, my version doesn't have strings to pull, you just grab
           | the top or bottom of the blind itself and raise or lower it.
        
             | dendrite9 wrote:
             | It says the shown model is just representative. I haven't
             | seen them with strings like at the link but I believe they
             | all use internal strings unless there is some other
             | mechanism for adjusting the height.
        
               | antiquark wrote:
               | Here's a demo of the shades I'm referring to:
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iUpVEZo1Xdo
        
             | tectec wrote:
             | Does it use two sets of lift tape?
             | https://fixmyblinds.com/collections/cellular-honeycomb-
             | pleat...
        
       | goda90 wrote:
       | They don't seem to sell mini-blind slats. I know most sets
       | usually include replacements attached to the bottom, but our dog
       | has damaged a lot of them.
        
         | el_benhameen wrote:
         | I've had good luck with blind-slats.com. No relationship with
         | them other than being a happy customer.
        
       | eysquared wrote:
       | This is near and dear to my own lived experience, having dealt
       | with what should have been a minor fix for Hunter Douglas blinds.
       | 
       | The cord that was attached to the clutch broke and got caught in
       | the mechanism itself. When I disassembled the clutch to retrieve
       | the cord, an internal spring came dislodged and twisted causing
       | the clutch to never function correctly again.
       | 
       | Understanding exactly which part I needed replaced, I contacted
       | Hunter Douglas, who told me to talk to a local rep. My local rep
       | told me they couldn't repair this issue, and I would need to box
       | up my entire window shade and sent it in. The cost was something
       | around $200 for a repair.
       | 
       | I spent a lot of time scouring the internet and came across this
       | site where I purchased the entire clutch for around $30. 5
       | minutes of swapping a good part for bad and I was back in action.
        
       | JadoJodo wrote:
       | My Hoover carpet cleaner stopped working sometime in the past few
       | months (between uses). The suction would start up, but the
       | "motor" part of it would not turn on when I went to use it. I
       | disassembled it (as much as it's designed to be disassembled - no
       | unscrewing things) looking for jams or clogs. Nothing. I called
       | Hoover, but gave up after ~45 minutes on hold waiting to talk to
       | a real person.
       | 
       | On a lark, I searched for my issue "Hoover Carpet Cleaner Won't
       | Spin". I found this[0] video. Apparently, the spinning bit can
       | get stuck if moisture get trapped somewhere inside (who would've
       | thought with it being all about moisture?), which causes the main
       | rotary portion to stop working. A simple hex-bit force-turn
       | sorted it out in 20 seconds.
       | 
       | I don't know what I would've done had I not stumbled on this
       | issue, but the way things are today, I suspect most people
       | would've thought "I guess it's broken", taken it to a landfill,
       | and simply gone out to buy a new one.
       | 
       | It's a real shame that there's so much focus on "every person who
       | owns an ICE needs to immediately drop $30,000+ on an electric
       | vehicle", when there's so much opportunity in the "let's try to
       | fix our stuff instead of dumping it" category. #righttorepair
       | 
       | [0] - https://youtu.be/q9UAEwPM91M
        
         | tanseydavid wrote:
         | ^^^ THIS ^^^
         | 
         | It is true, "Durable-Goods" are very difficult to come by.
        
         | epiccoleman wrote:
         | There is almost nothing as satisfying to me as being able to
         | fix appliances. I've fixed a few issues with my dishwasher,
         | washing machine, and dryer with just a little gumption and
         | willingness to fuck around. In 2 of the last 3 cases I can
         | think of, I didn't even need a new part - just had to mess
         | around a bit to discover the issue. I fixed a non-functional
         | agitator on my washing machine by just finding a stuck
         | actuator, fixed a broken pump on my dishwasher by disassembling
         | it and removing a stuck bit of plastic. My last dryer repair
         | needed parts, but those only cost $30, and a dryer is a very
         | simple machine.
         | 
         | If I'd had to call a repairman or buy a new unit every time one
         | of these problems happened, I'd have spent thousands of
         | dollars.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | That last line is the reason everything is disposable, things
           | got too cheap to be worth hiring someone to fix them.
           | 
           | A $30k car? You'll pay a mechanic to fix that, it's too
           | valuable an asset to just throw away (and even then, you see
           | people selling cars with "something broken" that is not
           | economical _for them_ to fix, but if you know how to fix it
           | you can get a car cheap).
           | 
           | A $500-1k wash machine? Unlikely to be worth the $100-200 to
           | bring out a repairman (because now you're looking at a $200
           | "discount" on a new one, which is probably much more
           | "advanced" (if that's good) than the existing), so it gets
           | tossed.
        
             | munk-a wrote:
             | It depends how old the washer is though - a lot of times
             | the older ones are just plain better than newer models with
             | their planned obsolescence and weird software junk that
             | frequently is the first component to break.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | I've noticed that, (and found certain models that have
               | "almost feels unauthorized" fill-and-soak modes).
               | 
               | Almost any modern refrigerator is quite reliable _and
               | energy efficient_ compared to ancient ones - but wash
               | machines seem to be retrogressing in quality (and only
               | partially can the blame be laid on the energy /water
               | saving requirements).
        
             | m463 wrote:
             | > A $30k car? You'll pay a mechanic to fix that
             | 
             | As long as the vehicle is reasonably dependable. Sometimes
             | an older undependable vehicle might not be worth it. (think
             | of stranding a loved one, or dying in winter, etc)
             | 
             | That said, brand new cars without spares are a disturbing
             | trend.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | There's always a tipping point, but the line for
               | "literally drag the vehicle to the scrapper" is much
               | lower than it is for most appliances, and mainly because
               | of residual value - even a completely dead car will have
               | companies willing to take it off your hands for you, or
               | even give you a few hundred for.
               | 
               | I knew a retired guy years ago whose speciality was
               | fixing microwaves; any dead microwave you could find he'd
               | get working again. They still exist, but they're nearly
               | impossible to find unless you hear about it.
               | 
               | I know I'd love to find someone to offload these old
               | SpeedQueens on (even there, a burnt out motor was $350 to
               | replace, a brand new one was $700 or so).
        
           | rkuodys wrote:
           | My experience with oven screen repair was that even if I
           | order all parts that could be the reason for wierd behaviour,
           | it would still be cheaper than call technician to come and
           | tell me for sure which part to change. I gotas lucky on first
           | try, but case still stand that sometimes it's just cheaper
           | replace all suspicious parts instead of calling expert to say
           | what's wrong (and call second time for replacement)
        
           | m463 wrote:
           | > There is almost nothing as satisfying to me as being able
           | to fix appliances.
           | 
           | On the other hand, a broken appliance is a real let-down. I
           | have this thing that was working, and now I have
           | (laundry/vacuuming/dishes/food) piling up and I have to fix
           | this immediately.
        
           | tstrimple wrote:
           | > There is almost nothing as satisfying to me as being able
           | to fix appliances.
           | 
           | I get that. But I also like new shiny things. So it's with a
           | bit of disappointment as well that I keep these appliances
           | limping along. I want the time left in the load projected on
           | the floor dammit!
        
         | cfeduke wrote:
         | I have fixed numerous home appliances over the past two decades
         | almost entirely thanks to YouTube and eBay, and a willingness
         | to apply myself. If the YouTube video has no intro and its
         | subject is about your problem, you can be almost certain you're
         | about to find out how to fix the problem.
        
           | wintogreen74 wrote:
           | YT is a great resource for fixing things like appliances, but
           | the devices themselves have gotten (1) shittier, (2) harder
           | to repair and (3) more expensive custom parts - that are
           | themselves less durable. Example: the slide-out for the top
           | rack of my dishwasher exploded, sending ball-bearings
           | everywhere. The replacement part (mostly plastic) cost > $50
           | and to replace required I disconnect the water & power,
           | uninstall the unit and access the 2 screws on the outside.
           | Great for speeding up assembly in a factory, but ridiculous
           | for any other purpose.
        
             | bombcar wrote:
             | This is the saddest part, a friend has two wash machines,
             | one is an old top loader and one is a newer front loader;
             | the front loader has been replaced _three times_ whereas
             | the top loader keeps running.
             | 
             | It had a control knob burn out and it was $50 or so to get
             | a new one, one of the front loaders had a control _board_
             | fail and it was $450 for a whole new front panel, which of
             | course means nope.
        
               | nsajko wrote:
               | To play the Devil's advocate, this might just be survival
               | bias manifesting. The old top loader might have
               | accidentally had top 0.0001 quality (tighter-than-average
               | tolerances, etc).
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | Nah, it broke "about" as often as the others (making
               | allowances for complications and design differences),
               | it's just that _when_ it broke, it was fixable for a
               | reasonable amount _because_ there was no computer board
               | in it.
               | 
               | A similar but later top loader that I had died almost the
               | same way, but required an entire control board
               | replacement similar to the front loader; too expensive to
               | bother with.
               | 
               | (Now an enterprising person could likely have repaired
               | the control board itself, but that's beyond my "remove
               | and swap" competencies.)
        
               | Bluecobra wrote:
               | I spent way too much on my LG front door washer/dryer
               | combo that when it breaks down I am going to replace it
               | with a laundromat style Speed Queen.
        
             | Bluecobra wrote:
             | I think I have watched every video on how to fix my ice
             | maker from freezing on my Samsung refrigerator and still
             | can't resolve the issue. I haven't replaced any parts yet
             | but I am dubious that it will solve it long term. It turns
             | out that putting an ice maker inside the door/refrigerator
             | compartment is a fundamentally flawed design.
        
           | masto wrote:
           | It was interesting seeing this from the other side as well. I
           | have what I thought was an obsolete motorized awning with an
           | obscure failure. I couldn't find anything about it so when I
           | managed to fix it, I decided on a lark to grab my phone and
           | record a short video. I didn't expect it would be of much use
           | to anyone.
           | 
           | Now it has 80k views and dozens of comments thanking me for
           | helping them fix their awning. (https://youtu.be/qae0XM4Dn4U)
        
         | Bluecobra wrote:
         | I had a similar issue my out of warranty Sunjoe grass dethather
         | for my lawn, where it stopped spinning. I opened it up and 10
         | screws later it turns out that the rubber belt that snapped was
         | readily available on Amazon for $9. I glad I ignored the
         | manual, it said there was no user serviceable parts inside. I
         | won't be buying anything from them again.
        
         | ridgeguy wrote:
         | Moisture in machines can be a very expensive issue.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Andersen_Air_Force_Base_B...
        
         | northernman wrote:
         | Fixed a Hayward salt generator by replacing a burnt out
         | thermistor.
         | 
         | Cost was $1.00 for two of them, so I now have a spare.
         | 
         | Replacing the entire PCB would have been ~$400+ CAD.
        
       | sphars wrote:
       | Ah I've been looking for this site again. I used it several years
       | ago to replace the strings on some our blinds when we sold our
       | home, but couldn't remember what the site was (we have blinds to
       | fix in our current home).
       | 
       | Great site, clean, has (nearly) any resource you need to fix
       | blinds.
        
       | LASR wrote:
       | I have a home with several roller blinds. There are several in
       | various states of repair. This resource looks very handy.
       | 
       | Related: recently, I put up WiFi blind motors on all of them.
       | With HomeKit automations, these now go up at sunrise and go down
       | at sunset.
       | 
       | Has been an unexpected life-changer by bringing in natural light
       | and boosting mood. I'd highly recommend it.
        
         | boredtofears wrote:
         | What did you end up going with for motorized blinds? I just
         | bought a new house with a ton of great natural lighting and
         | want to do this without paying an arm and a leg to get it done.
        
           | LASR wrote:
           | I ended up getting WiFi blind chain motors from Aliexpress.
           | This allows me to integrate with the existing blinds that
           | have chains. Also, if I ever need to remove them and go back
           | to manual, it's easy.
           | 
           | There are a ton of these on there. Here is the listing I
           | ordered from:
           | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005461906004.html
           | 
           | I spent ~$40 per blind. They go on sale sometimes.
           | 
           | (not affiliated in any way)
        
           | lsaferite wrote:
           | Not the PP, but I used these in my house:
           | https://myiblinds.com/
           | 
           | I used to use the similar ones from Somfy, but they were just
           | too much of a pain in the end. The only thing I don't like
           | about the iBlinds model is that there's no hard-wire
           | communication option (I have 4 conductor wires with power and
           | RS-422 at every window).
           | 
           | I'm surprised there aren't any commonly available blinds that
           | include an internal tilt motor with external manual fallback.
           | Bonus point would be if it also included a lift motor.
        
       | quercusa wrote:
       | Ordered lifting string from them to fix some cellular shades.
       | However, it's hard to push string (through the cells) as you'll
       | need to do if it broke . I borrowed a _bodkin_ from my wife and
       | it was the perfect tool.
        
         | panzagl wrote:
         | I used an unfolded Christmas tree ornament hook to do the same.
        
       | prpl wrote:
       | Having recently moved, I have to give honorable mention to the
       | cheap ikea blackout shades (the folding type, not roller type).
       | We use them in conjunction with curtains, and despite having to
       | adjust them manually, they really last a long time and work great
       | for the price.
        
       | davidy123 wrote:
       | Thanks, I might use this site. I want some motorized bottom-up
       | shades, but they are crazily expensive. Motorized kits are
       | available for DIY motorized blinds, but they aren't bottom-up. I
       | have some ideas on how to use them for bottom-up blinds, but
       | haven't got around to putting it all together, partially due to
       | lack of info.
        
       | tempestn wrote:
       | Saw the title and thought it was a site with DIY guides for blind
       | people. Which would be pretty cool.
        
         | wintogreen74 wrote:
         | that's a different website: "Do It Yourself, Blind; Repair!"
        
           | philwelch wrote:
           | Reminds me of the old joke, "how do you make a Venetian
           | blind?". Which I'm sure was a popular question in 1204.
        
       | inimino wrote:
       | I used to be neighbors with the owner of this business. Good
       | people. Never in a thousand years would have expected to see this
       | on HN though!
        
       | marknutter wrote:
       | I just so happen to have a honeycomb blind in need of repair.
       | Pleasantly surprised to see this at the top of HN today.
        
       | mkoryak wrote:
       | I know they are trying to make money, but it would be nice if
       | they could link some 3d printer models for things like handles.
        
         | tbihl wrote:
         | Perhaps send him links/files and some info to see if he'll
         | include the information that you think he's missing. contact
         | info is on the site.
        
       | 4b11b4 wrote:
       | I once re-strung a set of blinds. It was not fun (really, really
       | frustrating), but I'm one for pain in order to not make more
       | garbage.
        
       | moyix wrote:
       | Unfortunately the site doesn't seem to cover cordless blinds? In
       | New York they're voluntarily phasing out corded blinds because of
       | safety issues with small children, but the cordless blinds we
       | have are terrible and unreliable.
        
         | maxerickson wrote:
         | I expect they aren't as repairable. I have one that I'd like to
         | fix, but I think the end of the cord that came unattached was
         | fixed in place by gluing in the piece it attaches to.
        
         | SamuelAdams wrote:
         | Same issue here. I specifically have this blind:
         | 
         | https://www.lowes.com/pd/LEVOLOR-Trim-Go-2-in-Cordless-White...
         | 
         | However they are around 8 years old. When opening the blind, it
         | does not push up as smoothly - it takes a few small pushes
         | versus one smooth, long push.
         | 
         | Not a dealbreaker but it would be nice to know how to fix that.
         | 
         | Edit: Looks like there is a section on some components of
         | cordless blinds.
         | 
         | https://fixmyblinds.com/pages/how-to-replace-a-wand-tilt-mec...
        
         | evan_ wrote:
         | Same, we replaced ours with cordless blinds a few years ago and
         | they were all broken in less than a year.
        
       | chrsw wrote:
       | This is amazing. I have some broken blinds I've been putting off
       | fixing because I was afraid of what a time sink it would be.
        
       | werdnapk wrote:
       | I just fixed my roller blinds last week which wouldn't hold and
       | would roll down by themselves. The plastic clips that hold the
       | clutch in place cracked on one side so the inner plastic tube had
       | no friction to hold the inner springs in place. Broke a toothpick
       | up into some small pieces and inserted them into the gap of the
       | clip to keep it pried open and my problem was solved.
       | 
       | I thought these would be the type of things this site would go
       | over instead of buying replacement parts (based on the site
       | name), but this site will actually help me identify the correct
       | size of a new clutch if my toothpicks ever fail.
        
       | trevor-e wrote:
       | This is amazing, wish I found it several months ago before I
       | bought replacements. Two of my Levolor blinds broke in the same
       | exact way, the cord wore down the small piece of plastic that
       | handles the locking mechanism. Clearly not designed to last and
       | an obvious scam.
        
       | raimondious wrote:
       | Really appreciate all the info about making blinds safer for kids
       | organized into one place. Good link for sending to parents.
        
       | anthomtb wrote:
       | I purchased replacement mounts for a couple shades from this site
       | less than a month ago. The blind was "MyBlinds by Hunter Douglas"
       | from Home Depot, purchased in 2019, but that branding seemed long
       | gone. Luckily I was able to dig up the installation instructions,
       | figure out the shape, then FixMyBlinds had enough info for me to
       | get my shades up.
       | 
       | Interestingly, FixMyBlinds had Bali, not Hunter Douglas as the
       | manufacturer of the shade. I think (can't recall exactly), that
       | Hunter Dougles, Levolor, and Bali may all be part of the same
       | company these days.
        
       | avgcorrection wrote:
       | I wonder how many upvotes are for the slightly ambiguous title.
        
       | voidee wrote:
       | Excellent. I applaud anyone who helps people repair their own
       | equipment vs trashing it. Some of the repairs I've made on
       | appliances have taken days to complete, but it is extremely
       | satisfying once done and they've lasted for years.
        
       | revskill wrote:
       | You know what, to me, the hardest part is not about "just start",
       | it's about "what to start".
       | 
       | Finding a set of core principles to start will help you answer
       | "why you do all of this in first place" is the whole reason you
       | keep working on.
        
       | angry_moose wrote:
       | We went with Roman Shades, and despite spending a significant
       | amount of money on them the garbage plastic mechanisms completely
       | disintegrated within about 2 years.
       | 
       | While researching repairing them, we found this guide to build
       | your own: https://www.onlinefabricstore.com/makersmill/how-to-
       | make-a-r...
       | 
       | We were able to salvage the fabric from the old shades (which was
       | still in good condition), remount it to about $20 of wood and
       | assorted hardware per the guide, and they've been perfect for
       | about 5 years now.
       | 
       | It's one of a few times we've gotten something that's so
       | bafflingly bad that the only explanation is planned obsolescence
       | - for a rounding error in extra manufacturing costs they could
       | have built something that would last decades. Always feels good
       | to fix your way out of that.
        
       | japanman185 wrote:
       | I can't see the website is it working for anyone else?
        
       | acyou wrote:
       | Is this a paid advertisement? Hard to tell the difference. I'm
       | surprised at the other comments. I didn't notice any video
       | content on the site. I consider video to be king for repair and
       | hands on work.
        
         | jacobolus wrote:
         | There are 128 videos at
         | https://www.youtube.com/@fixmyblinds/videos
        
       | Cthulhu_ wrote:
       | Nice. I've got some old cellular type blinds (TIL what they're
       | called!) and some years ago ordered some parts online, it's a
       | known brand; I had to get replacement end caps, a plastic wall
       | mount, err. Probably some more bits. A few euro each plus
       | shipping, a few minutes of work, and they were a lot better
       | again. Cheaper than getting a new one, although the material is
       | looking a bit tatty.
        
       | nolongerthere wrote:
       | Wow, I was so excited, I need this exact site, just bought a
       | place with transitional blinds[0], they're all beautifully well
       | kept except in one room where one of the blinds is damaged and
       | while most of it appears to work, the bottom assembly broke and
       | needs to be replaced, unfortunately they do not appear to have
       | any info on this type of blind.
       | 
       | [0] https://www.lafvb.com/allure
        
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