Kung Fu Maintenance shows you how to adjust an out of step blind slat on an old corded and chained blind head rail. The same principle applies to wanded vertical blind headrails. Nice and gentle is the way to make this repair. If you try to make it happen too fast you will wind up needing to replace the whole head rail or make some time consuming repairs. Slow and easy wins this race.
OK. This an old style blind set. We got a cord no wand and all but anyway I got one blind out of step here. You can see right here.
Sometimes you can just grab these and twist these over. Sometimes it’s a little bit tougher. What I am gonna do is take the blind slat off and than grab it with my pliers and try to pop it over. What we don’t want it to do is crack the frame here because these particular kinds are pretty tough to change out so we just nice and gently. Hopefully, wow, it looks like it popped over too much. There we go. Right there. That’s where we want it.
OK, see if this works now. Put our blind slat back in and check for rotation. All fixed.
Kung Fu Maintenance video shows the repairing of vertical blinds.
Ok. Let’s say you go to open your blinds and… Oh No. Blinds won’t open. Obviously here the first thing to check for is any blind slats being out of step with the other blinds. Mine right here you can see this one is the wrong way. So we can just push it with our finger and reset them the right way. That is the most common fix and what usually happens is the blinds get out of step. Easy fix.
OK here is a little bit bigger problem with the blinds. Let’s say one of your blind slats is completely out of step with the others so that your blinds aren’t working. It’s a matter of moving the blind slat the right way. Now sometimes you can grab it with your fingers. Let me move this out of the way so you can see. Move the valance out of the way here. Anyway. Grab the stem with your fingers. Than turn it so that it is in line. This one was two steps out of the way. Now it is inline. Check to make sure everything works good and we’re done.
Now if it is a little tougher you may have to grab it with a pair of pliers. Take the blind slat off and grab it with a pair of pliers and than pop it over. Turn it over. Than you’re all set.
Kung Fu Maintenance shows you how to repair vertical blinds that are out of step or not rotating properly by replacing the stem and or stem gear.
All right, so today I will be covering how to replace a blind gear and a blind stem. You can see here this one is broken, broken right here. This other blind’s stem is out of step. I’m gonna try to pop it over, see if that fixes it here. If I can get full rotation, then we’re good there.
Broken Vertical Blind Carrier Stem
That looks good. But this broken stem– I mean, yeah, you could finagle this and hang this on here. But that’s not really right. That’s going to keep falling off, the blind is not really going to sit right.
Broken Vertical Blind Stem Removal
Then what you do is pop this stem out. Now this would also be if your stem wasn’t turning at all, or if it kept popping out of step this would be the repair you would want to make. I’m going to pull off a couple of these just so you can see a little better what I’m doing here. Another thing I want you to notice, these edges are really sharp. This is unfinished metal, I’ve cut myself numerous times on it. And I would rather spare you from that.
Holding Vertical Blind Stem Plus Comb Gear Together To Install
Anyway, we’re going to hold our gear in place here. And then just kind of push up, pop this out there. There we go. Inside there should be our little gear piece. Now if our gear piece is fine, we can just leave it there. It just slides into place. If it needed to be replaced, we can move it out.
When I put the new one in, a lot of times I’ll just hold the gear piece against the stem with one hand. And put the whole thing in there, and pop it in there. I’m gonna see if I can just pop this one in. This time, I’m going to try to match my angle on these two. Pop it in, there we go. It looks like it might be one spot out of place. Having said that, we’ll see how it goes.
Now sometimes it’s a little tricky to get the gear piece in there. And what I’ll do is I’ll use my pliers like this. I’ll hold it with my pliers. See, like that. And then I’ll set the piece up inside there. And then set my stem behind that. Put these back up. So this is just a little out of step, so I’m going to turn it one over. And let’s see how it works. There we go.
Kung Fu Maintenance demonstrates how to change vertical blinds changing headrails taking down slats installing valance flashlight vid series changing colors from almond to white.
OK. Today I’ve got a Flashlight video for you.
Oh.
But first we need a flashlight. What I’m going to be doing is replacing some vertical blinds today and change them from almond to white.
So the easy way to do these is kind of stack these up near enough to each other but spread out enough that you can get into them. What you want to do is lift up on the back side here in order to move them down. And you can try to use another slat to do it.
But really, the easiest way I find is just lift up on the back of that. And I’m just going to drop these down on the floor. And stack them up.
Vertical Blind Headrail Change
Now we’re going to take down the headrail. What we’ve got is behind is these little clips that hold it into place like so. We turn it and push it. Or you can use a screwdriver. Just get up in there right here, and turn it out. There we go. And the final one. This one just turns right out.
Got my new set right here. When purchasing your new ones, you may want to go with standard size. Mine are actually a special size, special-cut size. Not too big of a deal. This is a finished main size liner– 78 by 81. And the standard size is 78 by 84. So when possible, it may be easier to go standard size.
And watch out for this Styrofoam stuff. It’ll definitely make a mess for you if you let it. So just kind of be aware of that.
It looks like on this end, we’ll have brackets. Don’t want to be using the old brackets. This model of bracket’s a little bit different. And again, I’ll be using my old one. This one has a press tab on the back, because my old ones are very different. I’ll show you here. You can see here.
With these, I may need to squeeze them a little bit forward just to make sure it’s tight enough on all three of them to really grab the blinds themselves. So that’ll grab right up underneath the knob. You’ll want to watch which way your blinds stack up, making sure that it’s stacking up on the stationary portion of the door. This one is set up for that.
What you’ll do is tilt your blinds this way, and put the headrail so that this portion of it notches right into the deal and rotates into place. I’m going to slide mine all the way up against the wall on the left side, putting your weight on this side. And press it up into place. And here’s my wand. I’ll slide this over and just put my wand in at the right angle there. OK.
And now I want to rotate in the rest of our deals here. Same thing. Be careful here. This is all very, very sharp edges. It’s unfinished metal. It’ll catch you like nobody’s business. Well, a doctor’s business maybe. But there we go. Anyway, you don’t want to go there. OK.
Now we’re ready to change out the blinds. The easy way to do this is to stack all of your blinds up like so against the back. And what you want is you want the curved end on the back side.
Sometimes the blinds will come, and they’ll be coming inside a bag. And if that’s so, you can slip the bag down and make it nice and easy. Probably could grab them all together like this. So I’ve got them on the floor, and they’re kind of lending support to each other as I’m holding them together. And then one at a time, you can slip them up in it.
Installing Vertical Blind Valances
OK. Now that they’re in, we can get our valance in, our valance on. The valance just has these anchors. And for this smaller size, it’s just three anchors. For bigger sizes, you may need four. And it just allows you to rotate these clips in. The way to do this is just rotate the clips in. And these just rotate like so. And you want all three of yours kind of the same way. And you don’t want them to land right on top of the brackets. OK.
And now we’re ready to put our valance up. OK. And with the valance clips, all you do is start from the back. And press the back down over the groove, the same groove that we used earlier– the lip, I should say. And then we’ll clip the front proportion on. And now our valance is in place. And now our blinds are all set. And now we’ll check for good rotation.
Getting Vertical ~ Repairing Vertical Blinds
And I’m going to get my old blinds and all out of the way. And we’ll set up our new ones here.
Battery ran out of juice on the flashlight. Anyway, here’s our blinds. We’ve got full deal there and full rotation. We’re good to go. All our blinds stack up on the back. Nice new blinds. Gone from almond to white on what was a Flashlight video.
Anyway, good to go. OK. I was able to get my other light here, so at least you’ll be able to see it. Here we go. And now I can show you checking the blinds. Not exactly a Flashlight, but it’ll do the job. And there’s our nice full rotation. Nice new blinds. Good to go.
So my flashlight died while I was making the video, and it kind of seemed like it was the bulb that burnt out. Check this out. I didn’t even know this feature was here. But back behind here, look. I’ve got a spare bulb right there. Look at that. Hooray. So the other bulb’s dead, so no point in holding on to that.
Check it out. Ah, yeah! I thought that was pretty cool. Definitely nice to have. Anyway, flashlight vids are back in business.
00:08 Alright on this day, I will be describing the
00:09 five most often sources of trouble concerning vertical blinds
00:13 the first most often problem
00:16 is just a blind vane being out of turn
00:19 something this easy is
00:21 where it will bind up
00:22 and the blinds are not going to rotate and open up so number one thing is your going to want to
00:27 examine and check
00:29 that all the slats are lined up and
00:32 that is the first most often trouble.
00:35 Another very often source of trouble is a
00:38 broken blind vane itself
00:39 sometimes they will snap in this spot
00:42 and
00:43 one sollution is to turn your louver around
00:46 and use a hole punch and pop some different holes
00:48 and than reset it. If you want to you can cut it off straight or you can order
00:52 replacement vanes and cut them to size. I have a video on
00:57 those procedures, video on that operation and I will attempt to put the link on this video so you can link over to it.
01:02 The Third most commonly needed repair
01:05 is a stripped master control now as
shown if one of the slats was binding up or the vanes
01:09 were hanging up
01:10 and someone continued to try to force it
01:14 it can strip the master control
01:16 And there are a couple of versions of
master controls this one is a
01:19 self aligning master control
01:21 it hooks up to the first carrier
01:25 this one you can remove these screws
and link it to the first carrier
01:30 I have a video on that also so I will try to put the link on this video.
01:35 Fourth most often type of needed repair
01:36 is where you have an individual blind that isn’t rotating
01:39 all the others are rotate just correctly
01:42 and that one particular
01:43 slat isn’t rotating
01:46 what is needed is either the
01:48 head the uh… the stem gear here
01:50 has some broken gear teeth on it
01:52 or the comb gear
01:55 has snapped
01:56 these can be replaced.
01:58 I also have a video covering that
02:00 I’ll put the link on this video for the stem
02:03 and comb gear repair.
02:05 And the number five most often source of trouble with
02:07 vertical blinds
02:08 is that the blinds are difficult to open. Now, this one is not to bad, it glides fairly easy, but if you had a set that was difficult to open
02:18 what you should do is lubricate it with silicone spray.
02:20 Spray it on the whole length inside the headrail and gear.
02:24 Now it is not the best smelling chemical mix in the world but it really works well to lubricate the blinds
02:29 because silicone lube dries
02:32 and it still maintains its lubrication aspects
02:35 and because it dries it will not gather as much dust dirt and debris
02:39 and than get stuck. So after you spray it on proceed to work the blinds in
02:47 and you are all set.
02:49 There you have it. The five most often trouble points with vertical blinds.
02:52 There are other trouble points.
02:53 I hope to add them on in the future however
02:56 that is the five most often.
OK today, I am going to be showing you the five most common problems with vertical blinds.
00:13 One of the most common problems is simply a blind slat being out of step something as simple as this where it is just going to hang up and now your blinds are not going to turn and open up.
So first thing is your going to want to go along and make sure that all of your blinds are in a row and that’s one of the most common problems.
00:35 Another most common problem is a broken blind slat itself often they will break off right here and what you can do is flip your blind slat over and use a hole punch and punch some new holes and than re hang it up.
If you want to you can trim it off straight or you can get replacement slats and trim them down. I have a video on those repairs, video on that repair and I will try to put the link on this video so you can click over to it.
01:02 The Third most often repair that’s needed is a stripped master gear now as I showed you if one of the deals was hanging up or the blinds were hanging up and someone continued to try to force it. It can strip the master gear. And there is a couple of different types of master gears this one is a
self aligning master gear it links underneath the first slat. This one you can take out these screws and link it to the first carrier. I’ve got a video on that also so I will try to put the link on here.
01:35 Fourth most common type of repair that is needed is where you have an individual blind that is not turning all the other ones are turning just fine. And that one individual blind is not turning.
What’s needed is either the head the uh… the gear herehas got some broken teeth on it or the comb gear itself has broken off and these can be replaced.
I also have a video on that I will put the link on this video it is for the stem
and comb gear.
02:05 And the Fifth most common problem with vertical blinds is that the blinds are hard to open. Now, this one is not so bad, it slides pretty easy, but if you had a set that was hard to open what you want to do is lube it with silicone spray. Apply it to the entire length inside the track. And it is not the best smelling stuff in the world but it really does a good job in lubing the blinds because what it does silicone lube dries and it still maintains its lubricant qualities. And because it dries it is not going to collect as much dust and dirt and debris and than clog up.
Anyway once you put it on let it dry for about 15 minutes and than go ahead and work the blinds in and you are good to go.
And that is the five most common problems with vertical blinds.
There’s a few others. I will try to add them on later but that’s about the five most common.
If you have corded vertical blinds that have a centered master control gear running through the center of the gear channels than the blinds can be converted. All you need is a master wand control, a wand, and about fifteen minutes spare time to make the change. First loosen and remove both end brackets. Next remove the gear mechanisms from inside the end caps (usually held in place by a keeper). Discard the inner gears and blind chain. Behind the blind gears opposite of the corded end you will find the cord is knotted or split weight clipped. Cut off the knots or split weights and remove the entire cord. (Watching the youtube video I made on this will help you better understand the steps involved.)
Next find the keeper and make sure it is installed in the proper place just in front of what will be the very last slat. If it is in the wrong place remove it and install it in the proper place. If the blind slats are curved the convex portion should go to the back. Next install the rear end bracket. Now slip off any guides in the way of the first stem control and remove about the first four slats to give better access. Next slide out the main gear a bit and some of the blind stem controls enough for you to use your screwdriver more easily.
The new master control will have two screws that pass through it linking it to a stem control. Remove the two screws and discard the stemless stem control. Next slide the master wand control onto the main gear, screw holes facing towards the blinds. Next slide the first stem control up against the master control and use the two screws to link the first stem control to it. Now re-install the guides previously removed and reattach the end cap.
Attach the blind wand, reinstall your four slats and your ready to test the blinds for proper rotation. If you can’t get a full rotation you may need to pop each stem over a couple points. I will try to cover this better in a future video so subscribe to my Youtube channel if you want to be one of the first people to see that video (your subscribing helps support and encourage me to make more videos and write more blogs).
As I have mentioned before do be careful as the blind head rail is very sharp unfinished metal and cuts flesh just a bit to easily. The video on Stems and Gears should help a bit in understanding the way vertical blinds work.
~ I Wish You Great Success ~
~ Kung Fu Maintenance ~
Let us say you go to open your vertical blinds and oh no, the blinds won’t open. The first thing to check for is any blind slats that are out of line with the others. Look for any that are overlapping the others the wrong way and push the top corner to set it the right way. This is the most often needed repair for vertical blinds. Blinds often get out of alignment due to wind, people, pets, vacuums, chairs etc…
A bigger problem is when one of the gears gets turned out of step with the other gears. The repair is performed by turning the stem the right way. Sometimes you can grab the stem and turn it with your hand. Take care not to bend the slat itself or it may break. Often you will need or want to remove the slat. That makes it easier to grab the stem with a pair of pliers and then pop it over.
This repair sometimes causes a gear tooth to break. Replacing stem gears is fairly easy and I will try to make a video for that repair in the future. I cover all of these repairs and much more in my book, Kung Fu Maintenance. I have another video at present titled The Master Blind Gear. I hope you like it and that it serves you well. It covers (as you probably guessed) how to replace a stripped master blind gear controller for vertical blinds.
Be extra careful when working with blinds and appliances as the metal is often unfinished metal and very sharp. I have given blood numerous times. A little precaution makes for a better day.
