Servo doesn't line up with blind shaft

#1

Hi All. New user here with my first post.

I didn’t realize the servo, motor shaft was offset so much from center until I received my kit and did a test fit. The rod on my blinds.com blinds is exactly centered and there’s no way this will work with the default, 3d printed, motor mount. By my eye, the shaft and rod are offset by about 3-4/16". Has anyone else run into this problem, and if so, how did you solve it? I’m thinking I might have to try one or more of the following.

Mount the motor at an angle.

Cut a hole in the blinds casing so the motor can stick out
a little.

Find another motor.

#2

I ran into the same issue, my offset was about 3/16”. So I designed and 3-D printed my own parts to account for the offset. I can share my .stl design file. EDIT: I also had to cut the blind case a bit, but my mount fits top/bottom of the case so it’s a snug fit.

#3

I’d love to see your .stl file. Thanks. I have a coworker who might be able to print it for me. I’m seriously considering getting a printer myself but that won’t be for a few more months. Too many other projects need finishing first.

#4

The forum will not allow me to attach the .stl file to a post, so here is the file on my Google Drive.

#5

I got it. Thanks again.

#6

That fits inside my 40mm high by 58mm deep blind casing. The blind case top is open of course, and the front and rear top edges curve over inside to form a very slight lip. Good luck!

#7

It took me a while but I finally got my own 3d printer and worked my way back to this project. I’d been thinking of trying to design some type of gear box to shift the axis of rotation to work with my blinds when someone on another forum inadvertently pointed me to the following project on Thingiverse.

The box with the centered shaft fits my blinds perfectly. All I had to do was remix the 16t shaft gear to fit my square shaft and the 16t servo gear to fit Matt’s servo adapter.