Its Curtains Part 2

Its Curtains demo unit taking shape in the back yard

Main props in place

Completed with string and plywood prop supports and an old towel from the laundry, closed.....

And......... Ta-Da .......open, revealing .........Ta-Da........our hallway.

While I was finishing sending my entry forms for the piece off to Fringe Furniture, my son Ewan

and daughter in law Phoebe came round for morning tea. Christine is unwrapping a late but well received and eco-wrapped birthday present.

Hi,

To start from the beginning of this story, please click here.

here is the way my piece showing off my curtain pulleys came out.  It could be called a Plaque Unveiler, and yes, an internet search revealed such things exist. This one is just for hire!

The photo below shows one of my trikes, which is my 2nd entry in Fringe Furniture 33.

For the next post on this subject, please click here .

Regards

Steve Nurse

It's Curtains

Four hole curtain rod end

Full curtain setup

Right hand side

Right hand side

5 hole versions as string handles

Left hand side

Hi

For a while, I have been thinking of a modest piece of home automation, that is, making a curtain pulley so I don't have to get out of bed in the morning to let in the daylight.  What tipped me into doing it was an article in New Scientist about Vitamin D and the benefits of living by the sun's clock. Linda Geddes recommends "Use blackout blinds to block the light from streetlights" and also "wake up at a regular time and open the curtains as soon as you get up" amongst other things.  If I open the curtains before I get up.... whoa, I would be way ahead of things.

So anyway, it didn't take me long to make the custom curtain rod ends using Solidworks, some measuring calipers and a 3d printer.  They can be used to make curtain string handles, pulleys and end stops, and the rod diameter is 19mm.  First off, I just had 3 holes in the parts, but added a couple of extra ones later, one very small one for a screw, and another one to let extra bits of string through.  There's absolutely no need to have the 3 string holes / 5 holes altogether in the parts unless you want 4 strings on the curtain, 1 to open on each side and 1 to close on each side. And the 4 hole version looks more like a face!

My wife Christine has mobility issues and she is very happy to use the pulleys.

Anyway, I will load these curtain rod end things to Thingiverse soon, and will put up both the 4 hole and 5 hole versions. have loaded the parts on Thingiverse now, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3710558/files

And I plan to make a "demo unit" featuring these parts and put it in Fringe Furniture which is coming up soon.  (The story follows on here )

Regards

Steve Nurse