Fixing Cordless Blinds

Some of my Bali cordless cellular shades stopped working recently. They were stuck hanging at the bottom of their travel, and wouldn't retract at all.

I was able to fix the issue without buying a replacement part by using a spring and part of the shaft from a ballpoint pen. Please let me know if this helped you fix some blinds of your own!

The most common problem I've had with these shades is that the cords get tangled sometimes, which prevents them from going down past a certain point wherever the tangle occurred. This has happened a handful of times in the past nine years we've lived in this house, and can take a bit of work to untangle, depending how bad it is.

This problem, however, was due to a broken part. I'm not sure if you can buy replacements for the part, but I was able to fix it without buying a replacement.

The process is detailed in the following video, but I will briefly recount the solution below as well.

The Problem

There is a rod that connects the spring to the roller that holds the internal strings that hold the blinds up. It uses a gear that is held in place against the spring's gear by a couple small plastic tabs at the end of the rod. These tabs broke off.

The rod must be able to slide back and forth through the hole in the roller, but it also must maintain a connection to the spring gear. I was able to keep this connection and the freedom to slide by using a long spring over the rod, holding the rod's gear in contact with the spring's gear. I used part of the shaft from a ballpoint pen to take up the extra space, since the spring isn't wide enough to span the entire distance.