Blinds

The goal of this project is to automate the blinds for my window. Every part of the hardware is self-made. A big part of completing this project is to create a gear system that converts the input of the motor to an appropriate speed/torque output. There would be ways to create a simpler system with possibly a smaller gear set etc., but this wasn't the goal of this project. The parts needed for this project are all 3D printed. It was especially tricky to accurately print the 3D parts for the gearbox and make them interact correctly with each other.

Video of the 3-stage gearbox (with fancy slow motion footage):

Pictures of the control unit:

It includes some relays (although two relays could be replaced with normal transistors), a motor driver and a microcontroller. It has following jobs: Turn on/off motor, control motor voltage/speed, switch direction of motor using DPDT, allows remote control via your mobile, brakes motor so that it doesn't run in reverse when at rest (regenerative braking).

Pictures of renders of the gearbox 3D model:

The 3D models were created using OpenSCAD. Using Fusion360 would have been easier, but as I learned OpenSCAD before Fusion360 it gave me a great start and understanding before going to Fusion. 

I thoroughly described my design ideas in this PDF:

Design description PDF

I probably won't do such descriptions in this detail for future projects as it isn't really necessary and costs a bunch of time.

This article was updated on March 23, 2023