I am trying to control window blinds with Arduino. My question is mechanical. How can I get the shaft on the blind to connect to the shaft of a stepper motor? I don't have a 3D printer to build anything custom.
Any ideas?
"Shaft couplers" of all popular sizes are available from Servo City, McMaster Carr, etc.
Pulleys and a belt may work.
Ebay has plenty of them with different diameter holes.
You can use a caliper to measure the blind shaft and the stepper motor shaft and find an appropriate coupler. You can also drill out a coupler end if not quite large enough.
Bur you have other problems when you try to mount a stepper motor to your plastic blind fixture.
Have you measured the torque necessary to move the blind shaft? You need that so you can choose the proper stepper motor. Or rework the project so you can use pullies in increase the motor torque.
I ended up using a servo I modified to continuous rotation driving the wand input because the torque required to drive the inline shaft was too great. Other blinds arrangements are probably different. At any rate, I found the adapter shaft that fit at ServoCity.
The picture shows the mechanism to wind up the blind suspension strings. That will need a MUCH stronger motor.
You need a 3d printer.
There are gear sets for belt drive that will allow whatever gearing ratios you need and the 3D printer to make the mounts and supports. Not trivial, but not impossible either.
TinkerCAD is for 3D part building. TinkerCAD is for kids on the STEM track and even has "Lego mode"!
NanoCAD is a free AutoCAD work-alike program for your 2D drawings.
Then there's Fusion 360, which is still free for students and casual users.
McMaster.com is a great source for mechanical bits and bobs.
You can buy low voltage geared motors - lots on eBay that would do the job neatly
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