Home made blinds - in progress

[Psm1975]

I’ve had a 72 plate T6.1 PV for a month or so now. I’ve insulated / sound deadened / carpeted, and fitted a 112 Rib bed. Window wise, I’ve done the barn door, sliding door, and opposite sliding door.

I had curtains in my last van, but want blinds in this one. I, along with probably many others, can’t justify Van Shades or Voodoo’s latest offerings.

As such, I’ve taken the plunge and decided to make my own. I don’t have a finished item yet, so if you’re keen to see a finished project, check back in a few weeks.
Ideally I’d have used the same stuff that “Perfect Fit Blinds” are made of, but I couldn’t find a supplier of the components. I’d imagine you could use my dimensions to order some if you wanted.

I’m not making these to sell, but will put all dimensions and material on here for others to use. Until I’ve a finished item, this post will be a development in progress, and any advise it welcome.

I’m basing the design on a SWB 2022 PV with Kamper Glass flush sliding windows. I intend to be able to use the blinds if the windows are open.

Schottis blinds from IKEA. £5 for 100cm w x 180 H


I wanted the openings as large as possible so had a play around with what Screwfix had in stock. (38x25 trunking) This won’t be the final material choice, but was cheap, and very available.

THE BARN DOOR FRAME



The overall dimensions for the barn doors are 580mm wide X 495mm high.
Once fitted they looked like this:



You can see that the ply for the barn doors has been pushed out at the top. I used ply with no window holes and cut a hole in the center which I gradually made larger when I was sure of where the frame would sit. At the moment, the frame is still larger than the opening, but the final piece will have a flush opening.
I’ll cut small pieces of ply and fill the gaps around the outside. Once, carpeted it’ll all look like one piece. I’ll also need to either paint or carpet the part of the ply that’s visible from outside. I’ll use black trunking.

THE BARN DOOR BLIND

The Schottis blinds have adhesive at one end which I’ll use to stick them onto the top of the frame. (Once they are cut down.)

Regarding the bottom of the blind, I want to be able to hold the blind in the open and closed position, and maybe a central position as well. I have an idea for this mechanism, but don’t fancy drawing it on my phone. I’ll try and get it drawn on the laptop.

 

[JumpShip]

Looking good

 

[Psm1975]

Here's my idea for the mechanism at the bottom of the blind. A piece of black D shaped conduit, some Aluminium tube, and some nylon rod. There would be 3 pieces of ali tube; one glued into the trunking at each end, and a central piece with a slot cut into it. (probably 2 slots to prevent 1 side opening and the other not). Through the ali tube would be 2 nylon rods. In the centre these would be held in place with 2 knobs. squeeze the knobs together and the 'bolts' at each end will retract. The bolts when extracted would fit into holes in the plastic frame. The D shaped conduit would also only have 2 slots cut into it for the knobs to poke through.
I don't want something that looks home made, so this should look fairly smart.

This won't be hard to make but any other suggestions are welcome.

 

[Bigsidavies]

I bought some perfect fit blinds that I had made to my supplied dimensions then fitted them to the rear of the ply panels that line the van.
They’ve been good for over 3 years. Cost £50 each.

 

[T6 Dan W]

Nice job, interested to see the finished product

 

[Pugsley]

I`m doing a similar job and have started on the sliding doors. I`ve posted a thread HERE. I`ll be following your progress too.

 

[Psm1975]

A long awaited update…I decided to go down a different route. One slightly more expensive than this idea, but still what I think ‘reasonable’. If anyone did want to go down this route, here’s the sliding door. In order to clear the opening windows (CamperGlass) have needed a 50mm spacer at the top edge. Measurements are in the photo below.

 

[Psm1975]

So the new versions…

I’ll start showing the finished items, then do a how to for anyone that’s interested. Sliding door has also been done.

 

[Psm1975]

I decided to build the frames out of 25mmx10mm timber. The maximum sized frame that will fit in the recesses in the doors are as follows:
Rear doors: 585w x 500h
Sliding door & opposite panel: 915mm x 550mm

I made these rectangular frames and screwed them together. Be sure to drill clearance holes, and also pilot holes so you don’t split the thin wood.

I don’t have pictures of all steps, but this is what you want to end up with:

In order to get the exact location, you have to cut a hole in the door panel but as long as it’s smaller than the final size, it can be quite rough. Place the wooden frame into window ‘hole’ and attach the panel to the door. You should be able to see that the frame is now in a fairly secure orientation and you can mark the panel around the inside of the frame.
Remove the whole thing and you can mark the outside location of the frame as well. Drill a load of clearance holes in the middle of the 2 lines which should be 10mm apart. Countersink these holes and align the frame back onto the panel. Drill through your clearance holes into the frame and then screw the pieces together. Mark a 10mm line inside the frame and cut round this, which will be the final aperture. (Pic below shows a 20mm border on the inside, but I reduced this to 10mm)


To make things pretty, you need to cut another piece of ply that will fit on the ‘outside’ of the frame. This will give you something to carpet onto, also help to hold the blind from flapping, and also block out more light. Work out the shape of this ply with pieces of paper/card. As before, slide this ply into the window aperture and affix the panel again. You can then draw around the inside of the frame. Remove, secure, add your 10mm and cut. You’ll end up with something like this:


When you now fit this to the door, you’ll see lots of gaps around the frame such as this:

You’ll have to cut pieces of ply and glue them to the panel. I stood with a hand held belt sander to make these bits. Eventually you’ll end up with something like this which you can trim in your favourite material.


Next is to attach the blinds. These blinds have 4 little clips that you screw onto the wooden frame, and then you slide another clip over them. Of all the blinds I looked at, these were the best suited for my needs.


You can see from this close up, that although I painted the inside if the frames, when I trimmed them, there was some damage caused. I need to touch these up. Once happy, the excess string is cut.

Blinds were ordered from Rollo Family which I think are based in Poland

Pleated Blinds Premium DUO

Pleated Blinds Premium DUO

familyrollo.co.uk

I went for Pleated Blinds, Premium Duo. All their blinds are white on the outside, but a choice of colours on the inside.
£276 delivered for 2 rear doors, and 2 side doors.
Rear doors: 560w x 475h
Side doors: 890w x 525h

Total material for 4 windows was as follows:
5 lengths of 10x 25mm timber £35
2 lengths of 10 x 68mm timber 21
Blinds £276
TOTAL £332

I’ll do a separate comment for the sliding doors, and also for things I’d do differently.

 

[Psm1975]

The sliding door and the fixed panel opposite have the same internal dimensions in relation to what I’m doing.

Make a frame 915mm x 550mm. In regards to aligning the frame to the panel, repeat the process as above for the rear doors. If you have fixed windows, you can probably carry on as above. No internal panels needed for these.

I needed the blind to clear my Kamper Glass sliding windows even when they were open. I found that by placing another 25mm batten along the top edge, I had enough clearance to do this. It was just a case of neatening things up.
To do this, I decided to use some 10mm x 68mm strip wood. I cut this down to 50mm at the top and then trimmed bits of it down to fit all around. I think the bottom and side pieces were left at 68mm with a few clearance slots cut into them. The hardest part was probably clearance for the window when closed. I slid the window closed as far as it would then drew down the profile of where it would catch. I added 10mm clearance and then machined out a section. Instead of using one of many routers that I have, I used a drill and made a series of holes to a specific depth (5mm from memory), and then chiselled/ sanded to get a nice finish.

Before I added the side pieces in to give a neater job, I made sure there was enough clearance on the panel to open and shut the door. Add side pieces, and trim away.

.

I’ve not done the panel opposite the door yet, since my kitchen splash back will go there. In anticipation I’ve made a 25mm frame that I’m hoping to affix to the rear of my splash back and that’s all I’ll need to do.

I’ll add a finished and fitted photo of the sliding door tomorrow.

 

[Psm1975]

What would I change?

I hoped that the carpet would go over the lip and onto the inside of the ‘groove’ that I created. Unfortunately these blinds are 25mm deep, so although they fit nicely in the 25mm deep grooves I made, there’s no room for carpet.
Would I do it again using 35mm batten? Maybe, maybe not. If I hadn’t damaged my paint finish, I’d be happy with the 25mm batten. Once I touch the damage up, I’ll be happy again.

If anyone has any questions, I’ll try to help.

 

[Psm1975]

As promised, here’s the side door.