My latest project is this window blind that utilizes crossed-axes helical gears that I make on a tablesaw with my gear making technique I developed.  The geared mechanism raises or lowers the blinds, and is also the stop mechanism that allows the bottom of the blinds to be set anywhere between the top and bottom securely.  The handle on the right adjusts the angle of the slats.  The raise / lower mechanism uses pulleys to reduce friction, and the angle adjustment uses eye screws except for the place where the strings go around the corner.  The handles and joints would have gotten in the way of the slats and taken up a lot of space in front of the glass if I had designed the blind to fit entirely inside the window opening, so I placed part of it outside and above the window.  I used shims to get around the trim and secured the blind in place by driving in two screws into the header through the lower part of the blind.  This was my second blind I have made and the first one used eye screws for all of the line guides – it was possible to raise the blind up, but the amount of effort was pretty high without pulleys.  This design also makes a nice shelf above the window for small objects.  Here it is on Youtube:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqaMBUSs0Uc

Visit my web site for more information www.stevengarrison.com  Today is 2/6/2009 and I will soon be adding another page to my website that goes into more detail about this project.  Thanks for looking at my project and let me know if you have any questions.

Launch Gallery