Slippy venetian blind cords

Aug 30, 2005 8 Replies

We have two John Lewis venetian blinds which rely on a captive knurled nut to prevent the cords from slipping - the cord is supposed to grip the nut which fits into a tapered sleeve & clamps the cord, preventing it from running out (hard to describe, sorry).



Over the years, this arrangement has slowly stopped working, the nut no longer grips the cords which slowly run through the arrangement & the blind goes down, accompanied by amusing squeeking and groaning noises.



So, is there any way I can make it work properly again? Possibly by treating the cords with something?


I have this problem so I will be glad to see if there is a remedy. Some of the things that I do to stop the blinds slipping is to push the knurled wheel up tight against the cord with a stick. Easy for me to do as the blinds are in the box room converted into an office so it is easy to reach out and do, not so easy in a living room or kitchen. I did replace one of the cords but it was only a temporary solutions. I sometimes find that yanking the cords sharply gets the knurled wheel to lock in place but now the cords are fraided to badly. I also tried rubbing chalk on the cords but agian it only helped temparariy. I think that the only solution is to replace the cords and considering the effort and expense it might be simpler to change the blinds.

Kevin

You could try rosin. Do you know a violinist?

John Schmitt

The thought had occured.

I know a few people on the fiddle. Does that count?

Seriously, I imagine a music shop would have it. Google will provide.

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Worth a punt.

If this cord is the same cord that you have to pay out a length of to permit the blind to fall can't you just revert to the traditional arrangement and fasten a cleat somewhere on the windowframe?

Violin Bow resin? Though violinists seem to have to re treat their bows a few times per evening.

DG

That's what I've done with one of them. I dislike the arrangement, though.

It was. Came the next day, and works an absolute treat. Strongly recommended. No more slippy cords!

But can you get a tune out of it?

[rosin to improve CoF]

Good grief! Two wins in a single weekend. Not only has the rosin worked, but a friend of mine waiting for his cataract operation who could not read the manual for his new DVD unit had his problems eliminated on my suggestions. Became involved in a barbie on Sunday, so I seem to be on a winning streak.

John Schmitt

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