Thanks for this two-part video. I had an identical Levolor shade with a broken cord. Your video gave enough detail that I felt I should at least try a repair rather than just buying a replacement blind for $230. My blind used a tubular 0.9 mm diameter cord rather than flat dental floss-like tape. I was able to get the replacement cord and a helpful wire loop for ‘fishing’ the cord like you illustrated from fixmyblinds delivered in a couple days for $22. This being my first repair of this type I went slowly, made drawings and measurements, took pictures and re-watched your videos and in the end it took a couple hours for the job. But well worth it for the satisfaction of doing it myself, essentially paying myself and keeping repairable stuff out of the landfill. You did sort of skip over the cord length calculation so I will add what I learned. After you have removed existing cord, just measure it so you know approximate length; I found left and right sides to be about 6 inches different in length because the ‘motor’ was not centered on the top rail. If you no longer have the cord then you have to make some measurements: distance from the ‘motor’ to the feed hole in the top rail + total opening height that the shade goes in to + distance from bottom rail cord feed hole to the center of the bottom rail + ~18 inches. For a 60” wide window that is 40“ high, 90” for each cord piece is way plenty and gives enough extra cord length for some extra wraps on the spool plus enough for an easy tie. Mark the cord at about the total opening height plus 6” from the where you made the knot for the spool. This second mark gives indication of when you have wrapped sufficient cord on the spool to allow full extension of the shade; adding one more wrap on the spool after that mark would be fine. After wire loop feeding the cord through the blinds I used some clamps to apply gentle compression to the accordion folds and moved to tying the right and left side cords. My blinds didn’t have any snugging clips or washers for the cords at the bottom of the shade; instead the cords from motor left side and motor right side were just tied together at the center of the bottom of the cellular shade - pull the right and left cords snug from motor and through the shade to its bottom, secure the two cords together with a good knot, then snip off the excess cord.
Thanks again for taking time to make this methodical and detailed TH-cam video. It is wonderful how the Internet can leverage knowledge to be useful to so many people in different places and at different times (like, exactly when they need it five years after the video!). Notes added 2024 Here I am three years later in 2024 with another dangling Levolor cordless cellular shade that won’t retract. I was happy to find this helpful video again plus my own notes that I have updated. That this Levolor shade has a metal motor frame makes it stronger than what seems to more common construction for a cellular shade motors nowadays, which is a plastic and sometimes multi-part plastic frame. I am confident the metal frame makes the motor assembly much more durable and less likely for the spring assembly to become disassembled. There seems to be many sources for the 0.9 mm tubular cord; for the second repair I ended up choosing some cord supplied by N C Morin (’0.9mm White Window Blind Cord’) on Amazon, 100 feet for about ten dollars. For the threading wire I just used a piece of small diameter solid wire folded in half to make a loop.
Great video. This was exactly what we needed to guide us through the re string process.I also want to share with you a short cut I discovered. In your video you tried using a screw to prevent the coiled springs from unwinding. I noticed a small hole in the top of the motor. It lines up with a hole in one of coil spring wheels. Inserting a small nail in the two holes prevents the coiled springs from unwinding. This allowed us to wind both tapes at once and locked the motor while we tied the bottom ends. Saved us a lot of time.
Thanks Jeff! This saved me a bunch of money. I was ready to order another set of blinds until I saw your video. Mine had 2 motors so I had to double the effort but it was well worth it. Thanks again.
The information got me familiar with what to expect because mine was a metal housing that encased four of the springs. None of them were broken or damaged, but the four cords were a tangled mess. There were plastic nylon cord guides and a gear lock that allowed the cords to tangle because if you push up on the blind and create slack in the cords then push the button to raise it, it snaps the cords taught causing them to tangle and rat-nest. It’s not a fool proof design and is susceptible to problematic failure. Fortunately I was able to untangle and get it back together working with a better understanding of what not to do. Great video it’s very informative.
Great video! Took some time, but like you said: it works.I did make my own little square washers with notches for the bottom. I made them from a piece of old vertical blind material. It's a perfect thickness.Put a hole in the middle. Add a couple little cuts on the edges to grab the string.
Replaced both tapes on one of my Levolor cordless shades that had a broken tape. I also had springs that were no longer connected, so I had to figure out how they were supposed to go - would have liked some assistance with that! 🙂 But we eventually figured that out (disentangling one spring in the process) and managed to keep the tape from moving to the wrong track and getting twisted. Appreciated your two part video very much; probably wouldn't have risked doing this all on my own without your guidance.
Thank you so very much!!! Great videvideo and it was the reason why I could successfully re-string my Levelour honeycomb shade. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and making such a fine instructional videa.
I have the same blind but my spring seems to be busted. Can I remove the spring mechanism without cutting the cord? I don't want to have to re string the whole thing?
Edit: The process described below worked perfectly! One more suggestion--my shade did not have the plastic tape guide shown in the video, so I had problems with the tape coming off the spool after being wound. I put a small piece of masking tape right on the spool to prevent that from happening until I was ready to thread the tape through the shade. I recommend reading through the entire description before trying it. IMPORTANT!!! THIS GOES WITH PART 2. After 3 or 4 failed tries, it was apparent to me that when these are strung at the factory the tape must be fully extended (springs wound), the length marked on the tape, then the washer tied on at the mark, with the tape held somewhere in the middle to leave slack so the washer can be easily tied at the mark. I plan to do the following tonight: -- wind the spools, install the motor and pins (as shown in the video in PART 1), and hold the tape in place with masking tape. Be careful not to put enough tension on the tape to start winding the spring, because the tape on the other spool will simultaneously unwind and get tangled up. This happened to me and you have to start over. -- thread the tape through the shade and use masking tape to hold it (without putting any extra tension on it). Don't forget to slide the shade onto the frame first. -- put the shade and frame on the floor on its side and anchor it there (I used masking tape to hold it in place, on a tile floor). -- put a piece of masking tape on the floor parallel to the shade and the distance away you need for the shade to fully open. -- pull out the tape on both sides to full length gently at the same rate to fully wind the springs. -- Use masking tape to fix each tape to the floor to hold the tension so you can let go. Fix them somewhere in the middle to leave slack at the ends. -- mark the desired length on each tape (using the tape you put on the floor as a guide). -- Tie the plastic washers at the marks you made. This should be easy with slack at the end of the tapes. -- I suggest using a length of tape that will keep tension even when the shade is fully closed, to help prevent future problems. -- Holding the ends of both tapes by the washers, have your assistant remove the masking tape holding the tapes to the floor and keep the tension on the ends you are holding. -- gently let the tapes rewind into the shade until the washers hit home. If the tension in the springs is gone before the washers get to the shade, then you must either re-tie the washers off shorter or start with more tape wound on the spools. I would recommend adding 30" to the length of the fully open shade. Buy a 50' roll of tape from fixmyblinds.com for enough to make a few mistakes or to do several shades. I had a 25' roll and used it all on one shade that opened to 68". -- voila! Put the bottom rail on and test. -- Always keep the shade level when opening and closing it. I think the tapes can jump out of the spools and tangle if it is not level because of the fact that pulling only one end releases tension on the other end. My problem was caused by the tape at one end tangling, and then breaking when the shade was pulled.
Hi, we have an old levelor with springs in a metal casing. None of the components are broken but we cannot figure out how to reload the springs. Any suggestions?
Hi Anders. I know it is 5 years ago, but where did you by the replacement string. My just broken, and I cannot bye this string in Denmark, so I hope I can find it somewhere else.
My levelor has two spring units, one right and one left. There are two springs on each unit. The path of the string is unclear since the string broke. I have one that is not broken but the tension does not allow me to see the path. Will you do a video on a blind with two of the spring units? i did like the clarity for this video. The two spring unit have to work together so that they pull evenly and up at the same time. I may just try one unit and ditch the other is I have no other solution.
My old strings got off track and wrapped around the outside of the motor spring. I didn’t realize it until I took the top off the spring housing and of course the springs popped out and became a tangled mess! (No injury luckily!) Is there a way to rewrap the springs and place them back on the gears or is it a lost cause? Thanks!
@@jeffneitzel7778 I worked on it for about 5 hours Saturday and FINALLY got it where it would raise and lower about 80% so I'm going to leave it at that! Your video was a big help!
I'm wondering, too. I need to give this a try because levelor will no longer cover the repair, since their "lifetime" warranty is for 10 years. I want to try to repair the 2 broken ones i have, but am not sure where to buy the replacement tape. Are there different widths/thicknesses that I have to make sure to get the correct ones?
I am somehow missing a step in between where part 1 of this video ends and where part 2 begins. My question is after winding the springs what do you do with the end of the string? Do you just leave it hang out the side or does it somehow get threaded band in and through the springs before putting the plastic guide clip back on? When I left mine hang and put the guide back on it restricted the movement of the strings completely. I watched both videos multiple times and just didn't seem to catch that part. Please help!
Mine did not have a plastic guide clip, but I think the guide clip would make the tapes less likely to get off track. I think you have to make sure the tape goes through the guide clip in a way that doesn't restrict it's movement. I would guess you have to hold the end of the string to keep tension on it while you put the guide clip on; then masking-tape the string to the frame to keep the tension while you thread it through the blind. Once you get it through the blind, see my method just above to do the rest.
That screw was a ticking time bomb. Like literally you could lose an eye. One comment already said what you needed to do. Restring the blind on the down position, build a jig or use the wheel lock hole, knot your strings then pull your wheel lock. The blind will literally restring itself. I am surprised someone who does this for a living could be so dangerous! With that tool on the E clamp! Two screwdrivers and a all. OMG! Then that screw flew out and all the sudden I realized why Levolor won't sell us those motors.
Horrible video of what you can see and follow with no camera actually on the top of the shade to view what is being done when disassembled! Plus most people don't have spare parts from other blinds (Norman) to use as replacement for the poorly made Levolor honeycomb blinds that cost a goodly amount of money, but are cheaply put together just like the supposed inferior brand that probably last longer. Sorry, but it is just not a very good video and let's face it, the majority of people would not be able to repair their blind from viewing this particular video.
You have so much problem removing the C-clips? How you are any better than an amateur? And the camera does not even show what you are doing. You waste time in showing trivial things.
Thanks for this two-part video. I had an identical Levolor shade with a broken cord. Your video gave enough detail that I felt I should at least try a repair rather than just buying a replacement blind for $230. My blind used a tubular 0.9 mm diameter cord rather than flat dental floss-like tape. I was able to get the replacement cord and a helpful wire loop for ‘fishing’ the cord like you illustrated from fixmyblinds delivered in a couple days for $22. This being my first repair of this type I went slowly, made drawings and measurements, took pictures and re-watched your videos and in the end it took a couple hours for the job. But well worth it for the satisfaction of doing it myself, essentially paying myself and keeping repairable stuff out of the landfill.
You did sort of skip over the cord length calculation so I will add what I learned. After you have removed existing cord, just measure it so you know approximate length; I found left and right sides to be about 6 inches different in length because the ‘motor’ was not centered on the top rail. If you no longer have the cord then you have to make some measurements: distance from the ‘motor’ to the feed hole in the top rail + total opening height that the shade goes in to + distance from bottom rail cord feed hole to the center of the bottom rail + ~18 inches. For a 60” wide window that is 40“ high, 90” for each cord piece is way plenty and gives enough extra cord length for some extra wraps on the spool plus enough for an easy tie. Mark the cord at about the total opening height plus 6” from the where you made the knot for the spool. This second mark gives indication of when you have wrapped sufficient cord on the spool to allow full extension of the shade; adding one more wrap on the spool after that mark would be fine. After wire loop feeding the cord through the blinds I used some clamps to apply gentle compression to the accordion folds and moved to tying the right and left side cords. My blinds didn’t have any snugging clips or washers for the cords at the bottom of the shade; instead the cords from motor left side and motor right side were just tied together at the center of the bottom of the cellular shade - pull the right and left cords snug from motor and through the shade to its bottom, secure the two cords together with a good knot, then snip off the excess cord.
Thanks again for taking time to make this methodical and detailed TH-cam video. It is wonderful how the Internet can leverage knowledge to be useful to so many people in different places and at different times (like, exactly when they need it five years after the video!).
Notes added 2024
Here I am three years later in 2024 with another dangling Levolor cordless cellular shade that won’t retract. I was happy to find this helpful video again plus my own notes that I have updated. That this Levolor shade has a metal motor frame makes it stronger than what seems to more common construction for a cellular shade motors nowadays, which is a plastic and sometimes multi-part plastic frame. I am confident the metal frame makes the motor assembly much more durable and less likely for the spring assembly to become disassembled. There seems to be many sources for the 0.9 mm tubular cord; for the second repair I ended up choosing some cord supplied by N C Morin (’0.9mm White Window Blind Cord’) on Amazon, 100 feet for about ten dollars. For the threading wire I just used a piece of small diameter solid wire folded in half to make a loop.
Great video. This was exactly what we needed to guide us through the re string process.I also want to share with you a short cut I discovered. In your video you tried using a screw to prevent the coiled springs from unwinding. I noticed a small hole in the top of the motor. It lines up with a hole in one of coil spring wheels. Inserting a small nail in the two holes prevents the coiled springs from unwinding. This allowed us to wind both tapes at once and locked the motor while we tied the bottom ends. Saved us a lot of time.
Thank you for your input. I will remember that for next time.I always love it when people help me save time and do my work better!!
Just wanted to thank you both, the combination of this video and your observation made my attempt at this fix successful.
Thanks Jeff! This saved me a bunch of money. I was ready to order another set of blinds until I saw your video. Mine had 2 motors so I had to double the effort but it was well worth it. Thanks again.
The information got me familiar with what to expect because mine was a metal housing that encased four of the springs. None of them were broken or damaged, but the four cords were a tangled mess. There were plastic nylon cord guides and a gear lock that allowed the cords to tangle because if you push up on the blind and create slack in the cords then push the button to raise it, it snaps the cords taught causing them to tangle and rat-nest. It’s not a fool proof design and is susceptible to problematic failure. Fortunately I was able to untangle and get it back together working with a better understanding of what not to do. Great video it’s very informative.
Great video! Took some time, but like you said: it works.I did make my own little square washers with notches for the bottom. I made them from a piece of old vertical blind material. It's a perfect thickness.Put a hole in the middle. Add a couple little cuts on the edges to grab the string.
Most excellent comment Terry!! I will be using that in the future. Thank you for helping me be more efficient.
Replaced both tapes on one of my Levolor cordless shades that had a broken tape. I also had springs that were no longer connected, so I had to figure out how they were supposed to go - would have liked some assistance with that! 🙂 But we eventually figured that out (disentangling one spring in the process) and managed to keep the tape from moving to the wrong track and getting twisted. Appreciated your two part video very much; probably wouldn't have risked doing this all on my own without your guidance.
Thank you so very much!!! Great videvideo and it was the reason why I could successfully re-string my Levelour honeycomb shade. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and making such a fine instructional videa.
I have the same blind but my spring seems to be busted. Can I remove the spring mechanism without cutting the cord? I don't want to have to re string the whole thing?
Edit: The process described below worked perfectly! One more suggestion--my shade did not have the plastic tape guide shown in the video, so I had problems with the tape coming off the spool after being wound. I put a small piece of masking tape right on the spool to prevent that from happening until I was ready to thread the tape through the shade.
I recommend reading through the entire description before trying it.
IMPORTANT!!! THIS GOES WITH PART 2. After 3 or 4 failed tries, it was apparent to me that when these are strung at the factory the tape must be fully extended (springs wound), the length marked on the tape, then the washer tied on at the mark, with the tape held somewhere in the middle to leave slack so the washer can be easily tied at the mark. I plan to do the following tonight:
-- wind the spools, install the motor and pins (as shown in the video in PART 1), and hold the tape in place with masking tape. Be careful not to put enough tension on the tape to start winding the spring, because the tape on the other spool will simultaneously unwind and get tangled up. This happened to me and you have to start over.
-- thread the tape through the shade and use masking tape to hold it (without putting any extra tension on it). Don't forget to slide the shade onto the frame first.
-- put the shade and frame on the floor on its side and anchor it there (I used masking tape to hold it in place, on a tile floor).
-- put a piece of masking tape on the floor parallel to the shade and the distance away you need for the shade to fully open.
-- pull out the tape on both sides to full length gently at the same rate to fully wind the springs.
-- Use masking tape to fix each tape to the floor to hold the tension so you can let go. Fix them somewhere in the middle to leave slack at the ends.
-- mark the desired length on each tape (using the tape you put on the floor as a guide).
-- Tie the plastic washers at the marks you made. This should be easy with slack at the end of the tapes.
-- I suggest using a length of tape that will keep tension even when the shade is fully closed, to help prevent future problems.
-- Holding the ends of both tapes by the washers, have your assistant remove the masking tape holding the tapes to the floor and keep the tension on the ends you are holding.
-- gently let the tapes rewind into the shade until the washers hit home. If the tension in the springs is gone before the washers get to the shade, then you must either re-tie the washers off shorter or start with more tape wound on the spools. I would recommend adding 30" to the length of the fully open shade. Buy a 50' roll of tape from fixmyblinds.com for enough to make a few mistakes or to do several shades. I had a 25' roll and used it all on one shade that opened to 68".
-- voila! Put the bottom rail on and test.
-- Always keep the shade level when opening and closing it. I think the tapes can jump out of the spools and tangle if it is not level because of the fact that pulling only one end releases tension on the other end. My problem was caused by the tape at one end tangling, and then breaking when the shade was pulled.
Hi, we have an old levelor with springs in a metal casing. None of the components are broken but we cannot figure out how to reload the springs. Any suggestions?
Any body know where to get a replacement motor?
The only question is what diameter is my cords suppose to be for my blinds
Awesome, just what I needed. Any pointers on where I can buy the replacement string?
Hi Anders. I know it is 5 years ago, but where did you by the replacement string. My just broken, and I cannot bye this string in Denmark, so I hope I can find it somewhere else.
What is the calculation for the individual tape length.
do you have a video of a levelor cordless top down and down up restring job?
steven padilla I'm lucky this was uploaded. I imagine there are 2 spring motors in the headrail. Let me know what you find
There's a small hole on the top of motor to stick a paper clip to lock motor .
My levelor has two spring units, one right and one left. There are two springs on each unit. The path of the string is unclear since the string broke. I have one that is not broken but the tension does not allow me to see the path. Will you do a video on a blind with two of the spring units? i did like the clarity for this video. The two spring unit have to work together so that they pull evenly and up at the same time. I may just try one unit and ditch the other is I have no other solution.
My old strings got off track and wrapped around the outside of the motor spring. I didn’t realize it until I took the top off the spring housing and of course the springs popped out and became a tangled mess! (No injury luckily!) Is there a way to rewrap the springs and place them back on the gears or is it a lost cause? Thanks!
Carol, that's above my pay grade and have never attempted it I have a spare or 2 should you need one, just let me know
@@jeffneitzel7778 I worked on it for about 5 hours Saturday and FINALLY got it where it would raise and lower about 80% so I'm going to leave it at that! Your video was a big help!
Where do I get that tape?
I'm wondering, too. I need to give this a try because levelor will no longer cover the repair, since their "lifetime" warranty is for 10 years. I want to try to repair the 2 broken ones i have, but am not sure where to buy the replacement tape. Are there different widths/thicknesses that I have to make sure to get the correct ones?
Are these similar to Graber brand top down cordless ... our string broke and would like to know how to repair them
Be
I am somehow missing a step in between where part 1 of this video ends and where part 2 begins. My question is after winding the springs what do you do with the end of the string? Do you just leave it hang out the side or does it somehow get threaded band in and through the springs before putting the plastic guide clip back on? When I left mine hang and put the guide back on it restricted the movement of the strings completely. I watched both videos multiple times and just didn't seem to catch that part. Please help!
Mine did not have a plastic guide clip, but I think the guide clip would make the tapes less likely to get off track. I think you have to make sure the tape goes through the guide clip in a way that doesn't restrict it's movement. I would guess you have to hold the end of the string to keep tension on it while you put the guide clip on; then masking-tape the string to the frame to keep the tension while you thread it through the blind. Once you get it through the blind, see my method just above to do the rest.
Does this guy work for a store that sells blinds? Seems like he's doing this for the first time
That screw was a ticking time bomb. Like literally you could lose an eye. One comment already said what you needed to do. Restring the blind on the down position, build a jig or use the wheel lock hole, knot your strings then pull your wheel lock. The blind will literally restring itself. I am surprised someone who does this for a living could be so dangerous! With that tool on the E clamp! Two screwdrivers and a all. OMG! Then that screw flew out and all the sudden I realized why Levolor won't sell us those motors.
No idea what you're doing with this side view!
Sorry, my drone was in getting fixed
Horrible video of what you can see and follow with no camera actually on the top of the shade to view what is being done when disassembled! Plus most people don't have spare parts from other blinds (Norman) to use as replacement for the poorly made Levolor honeycomb blinds that cost a goodly amount of money, but are cheaply put together just like the supposed inferior brand that probably last longer. Sorry, but it is just not a very good video and let's face it, the majority of people would not be able to repair their blind from viewing this particular video.
You have so much problem removing the C-clips? How you are any better than an amateur? And the camera does not even show what you are doing. You waste time in showing trivial things.