Roller blind motor attachment

thingiverse

The "GidTech Window-Blackout-O-Master 2000" attachment for a cheap roller blind from Argos is more substantial than the cheaper version with a motor fitted inside the blind tube itself. Cheaper roller-blinds have much narrower tubes. This attachment uses a 100RPM 12V DC motor to control the blind. The motor plate is held on by four M3 bolts going into four captive M3 nuts in the base. First, screw the motor to the plate with three or more M3 screws, then bolt the entire plate onto the frame pushing on the motor gear first. The free end of the blind uses the existing fitting for strength but it should be straightforward to model a new one. If so I'd recommend increasing the slot width and the diameter of the stalk. I'm connecting this arrangement via a cheap IBT-2 H-bridge board to an Onion Omega board currently being used to control the "GidTech Blind-Tilt-A-Tron 2000" wooden slatted blind controller it communicates via MQTT to a custom Internet of Things environment. Alternatively the H-bridge could be connected to an Espruino an Arduino or an ESP8266. You could control the motor with simple up/down buttons or a DPDT rocker switch or you can use the otherwise-unused "accessory port" holes to mount limit sensors. I've included a partially-developed mount for copper wire brushes to contact against conductive copper tape stuck to the blind or Hall effect sensors to sense adhered neodymium magnets. However my favored approach is the included rotary encoder attachment and third gear wheel so a microcontroller can receive a stream of pulses to maintain blind position.