Fixed yet another Day/Night shade........

Well, I thought I had finally gotten over the hump for shade failures.  I had Winnie replace two shades just before warranty ran out 2 years ago.  Since then I had been opening the shades daily without issue.  I had fixed two myself, and then with the two that Winnie replaced I was doing pretty good.  Then a few days ago I was tightening the shade over the dinette, and SNAP!   One of the strings broke and the shade sagged to one side.  I babied it for about 3 days, and then yesterday the rest of the strings gave out. : 

I had a spare string kit that I had bought after the last failure, so at least I was prepared to fix it.  It took a lot longer this time than last (at least I think it did) but I finally got it back together.  I picked up the kit at JoAnns Fabrics.  I was hoping that Winnie had fixed the problem of the failures, and that was why this one was lasting.  When I pulled it apart I found that the same old problem was still the cause of the failure.  The plastic grommets that are supposed to protect the cord from fraying as they pass through the metal dividing strip between the upper night shade and the lower day shade were put in upside down.  This allows the cord which make a 90 degree turn as it passes through the divider strip to chafe against the metal instead of protecting it against the plastic grommet. :'( 

I was told that Winnie buys the shade parts from someone else and assembles them at the factory.  I hope the shade assembler guy is one of the folks that got fired in this last down sizing

Guess I better stop and pick up one more string pack as I have one more shade that has not been serviced yet...........

Sarge - I think of the eight shades we have, four of them have broken.  The large one in the salon has been replaced twice now, and our larger one in the bedroom is waiting for me to get off my duff and restring it.

I don't know what the deal is with these blinds - why is the manufacturing process so difficult to correct!?  I consider this more of a Winnebago-centric topic than a window shade topic, so I'm keeping this post here.

I have found that the most important thing with day night shades is to open them carefully. Use two hands and position them at about the 1/3rd and 2/3rds point along the bottom rail. Move them slowly and don't try and force them. Using this method I break them less often

>>The plastic grommets that are supposed to protect the cord from fraying as they pass through the metal dividing strip between the upper night shade and the lower day shade were put in upside down.  This allows the cord which make a 90 degree turn as it passes through the divider strip to chafe against the metal instead of protecting it against the plastic grommet. <<

I noticed this problem when I had my blind apart but did not change them. It occurred only on one row. I would have changed them if I had had a second opinion. I will change the direction of the eyelets on the next blind that fails. Too much trouble and not enough time right now

I got my repair kit from "The Dirty Blind Man" at dirtyblindman dot com. They supply a CD with good installation instructions. The kit also includes the plastic grommets.

Opening them carefully is probably made them last this long :  Also the cords I put in were thicker than the ones I replaced. The cords I used are #2 polyester cord which look to be about twice as thick as the cords I replaced.  The blinds I fixed 2 years ago are still working fine.  I believe that deburring the holes and flipping the grommets were key to the success. 

When my ship comes in or we win the lottery, I'd like to do the entire coach in MCD shades!

LOL John...we play the lottery and we had to pay for the shades too (read - we never win!) 

Well..mostly we had no choice but to do MDC...I've had surgery on both shoulders (rotator cuff and one spinal pinched nerve) and things are as good as they're gonna get...and pushing up those day/night shades was truly a pain. I literally could NOT do the big ones by myself.  Only 2 to go and the whole coach is MCD!  Now I hear that they are becomiing standard equipment in 'other' brands of coaches!  Grrr!