Very small winch?

[Thrashsmith]

Hi folks, can anyone help direct me to a supplier of very small winches? Ideally in a nice material like brass, for aesthetics.
I want to make some window blinds that raise from the bottom & I was thinking that if there was a small wall mounted winch, it could drive a chain that runs vertically up besides the window and connects at the top to a mechanism that raises the blind up on runners.
The aim of the game being to have privacy, without blocking out the light. Top down blinds kill the light before they give privacy.
Cheers

 

[Erie Fred]

What do the RC sailboat model people use ?

 

[Pond frog]

Keep it simple and use some brass pulley blocks, should be fairly easy to get hold of.

 

[Robotstar5]

Have you considered Day Night blinds as you pull them down they constantly cycle though 50% to 100% we had some fitted last year.

 

[DAPPH]

The villa in Portugal we stayed in had those rolling hit & miss blinds .. absolute heaven on strong sunny days

 

[Nomad]

I've fitted those Day & Night / Hit & miss blinds in a couple of houses, they work well as you have 3 options :
Fully open, they disappear at the top of the window
50/50 so you get privacy & some shade, zebra stripes style.
Fully closed so you get total privacy.

Pick a dark colour or "blackout" material if you want to keep the light out.

I like them and will happily fit more in the future, just beware you lose a couple of inches height above the window so if you have tilt & turn windows it takes some practice when opening them so the top of the window doesn't snag the blind.

I also like your idea of a brass pulley system, maybe look at steampunk sites for some inspiration ?

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Keep it simple and use some brass pulley blocks, should be fairly easy to get hold of.

Or even make, given the talents on here.

 

[winchman]

Cant think of anything that would look good apart from Boaty type stuff.

 

[daleyd]

Cant think of anything that would look good apart from Boaty type stuff.

Well with your forum name if you don’t know then there’s no hope!

 

[Pond frog]

 

[winchman]

Well with your forum name if you don’t know then there’s no hope!

Its a long time since I fixed a winch. In general the smaller stuff is Cheap and nasty or made for winching car wheels on and off the storage holder. Lego springs to mind as small, but just cant think of anything that would look good apart from Stainless boat stuff

 

[CompoSimmonite]

What about a brass fishing reel ?

 

[Thrashsmith]

What about an old brass fishing reelhttps://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325735876801?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338364431&toolid=11000&_ul=GB&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=e

Funnily enough we were at a boot fair this morning & I saw some fishing reels & I wondered if they could be made to work.

 

[8ob]

Hi folks, can anyone help direct me to a supplier of very small winches? Ideally in a nice material like brass, for aesthetics.
I want to make some window blinds that raise from the bottom & I was thinking that if there was a small wall mounted winch, it could drive a chain that runs vertically up besides the window and connects at the top to a mechanism that raises the blind up on runners.
The aim of the game being to have privacy, without blocking out the light. Top down blinds kill the light before they give privacy.
Cheers

You could use a roller shutter reel in reverse, blind could roll up on the reel and the reel could drive the decorative lift chains. All the drive system and limit switches/stops come in the kit. Just thoughts

Bob

 

[Kram]

RC mini winch?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GEBY-RC-Car-Winch-Compatible/dp/B07X8NKGZ1/

 

[Agroshield]

RC mini winch?

At 1/10 scale, that would be a bit tiny (listing says 60 x 35 x 22mm).

The scale model boat stuff is also too small:

Winch

This very extensive range of Winch kits are manufactured to the same high standards as with all the other products by Mobile Marine Models From the

www.mobilemarinemodels.com

Billing Boats Winches & Warping Drums

Billing boats fittings: Winches, windlasses and Warping ends in brass for model boats and ships.

www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk

This one, at 1/4 scale, is too big. Beautiful but a little expensive:

Model Steam winch by Lynn & Co

1/4 scale model of a steam winch by John Lynn & Co

www.hatchwellantiques.co.uk

The other issue is the requirement for chains. Most chain-driven stuff does not wind the chain onto a drum. The parts that grip the chain just move the chain between them, with either a continuous loop (chain hoist) or the excess going into a bag or dangling down (on a boat, I think they call it a chain locker).

With a fishing reel, does it offer control in both directions? Sure, you can wind in a fishing line, 1" at a time, but can you pay it out in the same way, or is 'outwards' only possible on free spool?

 

[Kram]

At 1/10 scale, that would be a bit tiny (listing says 60 x 35 x 22mm).

Its small but likely adequate, the wire rope may need to be replaced with thinner 0.8mm dyneema cord to get enough travel on the drum.

In terms of looks I would suggest making up a brass polished cover plate to hide the winch bits.

The steam one, nice, but a little impractical to fire up a steam engine each time you want to adjust the blinds.

 

[Migmac]

What about using the mechanism from a projector screen?

 

[carbonarc]

Can this be adapted?

 

[OJCar]

Its a long time since I used a winch to remove a table.