IKEA FYRTUR blind extension parts

prusaprinters

This is a remix of IKEA Fyrtur Blind Brackets - Automate Any Window Size on Thingiverse by user arhubs. Only my addition and the required parts are here since I'm unable to use the built-in ‘remix’ field to get a link to that listing. There are other “optional” parts there that I didn't use, but may be helpful to you.The original design depends on the brackets for the windows being against the sides of the window cutout. This isn't always possible or desirable, and the way the motor side has been designed is a problem when this is the case. I've designed a support to slip over the motor side to address this. Otherwise, things seem to be working OK.I also found that the directions for assembly there were very confusing, and have done what I can below (and especially in the exploded diagram I've taken a screenshot of) to show where all the screws and parts need to go. Parts are reused from the FYRTUR and are not pictured in the exploded diagram. What this does:The FYRTUR blinds (at the time of this writing) are all 76.75 inches (195 cm) long. They come in several widths: 23, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, and 48 inches (58.5, 68.6, 76.2, 81.3, 86.4, 91.5, and 122 cm). The idea is that you'll take the shade fabric and use it sideways, using these printed parts, some screws and a 608 bearing.This presents a few opportunities as well for standard-width windows (as listed above) that don't need anywhere near the full length of the shade. (and don't forget, the shade mechanical parts make up some of the “shade height” as well)For example, if you have a 48" wide, 24" tall window opening, you could handle this with the 48x76.75" FYRTUR for USD$180 (at the time of this writing). Or, print these parts and with a bearing and some screws, you could handle the same window with the USD$140 27x76.75" FYRTUR by using the fabric sideways. I have 3 of these up high in my living room, and the savings of USD$120 for the same effect were well worth the effort. A few notes on assembly (read all points before starting):The width of your window opening will not be the width of your shade, even in the best-case scenario where the end brackets are against the sides of the window opening. It's never going to be perfect, since the shade-distance-to-window increases as the roller unrolls. If you really need it, you can put the edges of the shade between 2 L brackets down the sides of your window cutout - just make sure they're far enough apart to handle rolled vs unrolled shade distance from the window.When you're cutting down a dowel and PVC pipe, don't cut it to the width of the window opening. You need to subtract the width of all of the other parts. This isn't intuitive because a few original parts are used and change the width of the pipe that is needed. Assemble the FYRTUR parts + these printed parts first, measure, and then cut the PVC to length. On attaching the fabric to the PVC:The metal weight on the original shades can be removed by popping (breaking off) one of the plastic ends and sliding the end out of the extruded share weight.The original listing recommends contact glue for the fabric-to-PVC connection. This sounded messy to me, and a strip of hem tape from the local hobby store works perfectly - especially if as much length as possible is kept and it never completely unrolls.Line up the fabric on the PVC by jamming the PVC into a doorframe and using it as a straightedge to trace a perfectly-parallel line to the length of the pipe.Once the share material, PVC and dowel are cut to length and PVC marked, put the hem tape where it needs to go on the fabric, but leave the paper on the PVC side for now.  Dry-align the cloth with your guideline on a flat surface that supports the entire width, and allow the cloth to flop down. Hold the PVC so it doesn't move on the cloth AT ALL while someone else peels the paper off of the PVC side of the hem tape. If they bump you, the cloth, or the PVC, start over.Once peeled and helper out of the way, roll the PVC pip onto the hem tape, gently at first until it's all the way on, then more firmly. Check the cloth edge against the guideline, it should be attached perfectly straight. Side notes on the FYRTUR:You tap both up and down buttons on the unit itself to put it into pairing mode, then hold a pairing button behind the back cover of the remote until the blinds drop an inch, then raise an inch to indicate they're now controlled by that remote. You need to hold the remote pretty much against the motor side of the blinds to do this, IKEA recommends no more than 5cm away. You can sync all of your blinds to one remote like this.When you have the blinds to their “max length”, you tell the blinds to stop there every time by double-tapping the ‘up’ button on the unit itself. Every time the blinds close, they'll stop there. They stop when they're opening when the unit feels the fabric weight jam against the unit.Different-sized windows used with this build will put different strains on the motors. This hasn't been seen to cause a problem, but the windows might close at different rates. If you want them all in sync when they go up and down, I'm not aware of a solution.