Roller shades repair November 02, 2019, 05:50:58 pm We had the rear day roller shade lose its mind or springiness, took it in to the factory and got it repaired about six months ago. Vince said they reset its springs (or something to that effect) so they didn’t need to replace it, and they adjusted all shades to spec while they were at it.It just failed again. It entirely unrolled, and DW didn’t touch it until I asked her to put it back up, which she was unable to do. I’m looking at it now, and I have a few questions:Has anyone else dealt with this, and how did you resolve it?How do I get the roller shades down to look closer?Any other advice?
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #1 – November 02, 2019, 06:26:14 pm Keith,On our ‘15 RB, I have occasionally adjusted the spring tension on the roller blinds. If yours are like ours, this may work for you (see pic of our blinds and adjustment wheels). There is no need to remove the blinds.Looking up inside the cornice box that surrounds the blinds you will notice a wheel at both ends of each blind (the white blind and the black shade blind). Work your hand up to the top wheel for the black blind and the bottom wheel for the white blind. It’s kind of limited for space up there but I’ve managed and my hands are rather large (so I’ve been told).Either end of the blind will do (I believe). Simply rotate the wheel clockwise or counter clockwise to add or subtract tension from the spring inside the roller. I just tried it on my black shade blind (on the left end) and found that rotating the wheel upward (clockwise) added tension to help raise the blind. If you pull one blind downward and notice that it travels upward as you turn it’s wheel then you are adding tension. If the blind goes up too far, simply turn that wheel in the opposite direction. It took some practice but I’ve had great success adjusting the blinds in this manner.Good luck.Kent 3 Likes
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #2 – November 04, 2019, 01:40:24 am I do not think the problem is tension adjustment. The shade problem is not that it doesn’t retract after a downward tug - but it entirely unrolled on its own, like the spring broke, or detached from the hub, or something like that.I think that I need to drop the shade unit to proceed. Any idea how I do that?
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #3 – November 04, 2019, 06:08:18 pm Quote from: Keith Sweitzer - November 04, 2019, 01:40:24 amI do not think the problem is tension adjustment. The shade problem is not that it doesn’t retract after a downward tug - but it entirely unrolled on its own, like the spring broke, or detached from the hub, or something like that.I think that I need to drop the shade unit to proceed. Any idea how I do that?The culprits are the (female) roller anchors. They're a uniquely formed part that has a slide in slot (to both insert and or take out the roller blind), and then a dog leg turn to allow the (male) spring tensioner on the roller to lock squarely into place.Once the (female) lock in zone rounds down a bit, this allows the (male) spring tensioner to spin/unwind, thereby losing the spring tension to either retract the blind, or it just simply unwinds & spills out (your situation).I replaced 4-6 anchors for 2-3 blinds to restore the blinds to perfect order. Each anchor has two wood screws that are easy to remove allowing the anchor pieces to come right out. When you put the blind back in, you need to ratchet the spring tension hub 10-15 turns. Experiment with the # of turns to get the right return speed - too many/too tightly wound, and it will fly/snap back up; too few, and the blind won't return on its own without a lot of help.When you take out the existing anchors, don't try and find replacement hardware at the local hardware store. Rather, LD sells them for something like 50 cents apiece. I used to keep a few spares around in case another blind went out.
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #4 – November 07, 2019, 01:13:44 am I don’t see screw anchors - the screws go directly into the wood. I removed 8 screws to drop the dual shade assembly. I removed the thumbwheels and still don’t see slide-in anchors or dog-legs. Maybe I am very far off track? Maybe I have a different shade assembly (2013 mid-bath)?
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #5 – November 07, 2019, 11:38:24 pm Quote from: Keith Sweitzer - November 07, 2019, 01:13:44 amI don’t see screw anchors - the screws go directly into the wood. I re. Maybe I am very far off track? Maybe I have a different shade assembly (2013 mid-bath)?You have MCD shades, a completely different animal than conventional roller shades.Here is the owners manual, with instructions on how to adjust them.http://mcdinnovations.com/files/Ownersmanual031318.pdfLarry
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #6 – November 08, 2019, 03:07:51 am Good call, Larry! You pointed me to the manufacturer, with informative videos on their site. The internal spring connects to the end with a plastic coupler, which is broken. I will contact them for a replacement. Thank you, again!
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #7 – November 14, 2019, 05:07:57 pm Bad news. The spring shaft is broken, and MCD does not offer parts for these shades. They offer an entire new dual shade for $380. Anybody have a spare shade laying around that they would part with?
Re: Roller shades repair Reply #8 – November 15, 2019, 12:07:58 am Speaking with Todd at LD cleared up the subject. LD switched to MCD in 2015, so MCD is not the manufacturer for my roller blinds after all: Irvine Shades is.
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Topic: Roller shades repair (Read 434 times)
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