U.S. We have blinds! (Or at least I do)

Well, after searching and searching for a set of rear blinds for my wagon and coming up empty handed without learning Japanese I set out to build my on. Thanks to NZ-DB8R for my inspiration! I scavanged thrift stores for a while and finally ran across these! Picked them up for $8 they are made of a plastic foam type material and are very light! That was a big concern since the hatch is already heavy.
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Then it was alot of measuring!
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Then cutting
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This is them all cut out. I later added one more slat.
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Then I had to create a jig to drill all the holes exactly the same.
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Got them painted up with SEM plastic dye.
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I used wood dowels for the supports and painted them with plasti Dip to give a rubbber coating to help with rattles and slippage.
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Finally I assembled them on the dowels with rubber o-rings.
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Never mind my foot. I still need to make mounting brackets. Think they are turning out nice though. I was hoping to have them mounted for the meet, but I'm out of time. I'll update when I get them mounted. Enjoy!
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Comments

  • bretrutanbretrutan Band Wagon
    thats awesome, I want to see a finished product picture :D
  • CharbCharb Administrator
    Wow, great work!

    This is exactly what it takes to be a wagon owner lol
  • efrue57efrue57 New Wagonist
    Love the creativity. Can't wait to see the finished product.
  • Start mass producing these. I'll be your first customer. I'm serious btw.
    I got excited when I read you were bringing them to the meet, but then I re-read, and saw that you said you were hoping to. Sigh...
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    I might consider making another set or too, depends on the mounting bracket situation & what I can come up with. These were very time consuming to make and I only have enough slats to make 1 maybe 2 sets. next set would probably move faster since I have measurements to go by an my drilling jig set up. I checked at Home Depot and a new set of those blinds is like $75! I have looked at 1000 different ideas and the next best thing is maybe balsa wood?? We'll see where this goes.
  • DRMORTYDRMORTY Council Member
    Nice! That came out cool...
  • Man these came out great! (jealous) Do you plan on making a pair for the bubble windows too?
  • AaronAaron Wagonist
    lol so cool
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    Just sticking with the rear window ones. I'm not too fond of the bubble window ones. If I do anything there, I'll get (or make) some bars.
  • looks good man, cant wait to see the brackets and the final product
  • carbon66carbon66 Band Wagon
    Very ingenious. Can't wait to see the finished product> 8)
  • HaydzHaydz Moderator
    Louvres! Awesome.
  • I cant wait to see as shot of these from outside the car. Awesome work!!
  • dre1162dre1162 Wagonist
    how did you do the measurements on?
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    With a tape measure on the glass.
    It was all guess work, trial & errror.
  • CharbCharb Administrator
    Added to quicklinks

    Thanks for sharing!
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    No Prob! Glad to add to the wonderful world of wagons!
  • This is what I like to see. Everybody wants and wants and wants but it takes special people to go out and make it. Awesome work!
  • wow creativity good work you are going to see these everywhere thanxs to you
  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    i knew it :mrgreen:
  • leWolfleWolf Senior Wagonist
    My civic is so old school it's got window blinds instead of tint! Look like you did a great job, with this, but how are you going to secure the o rings so a road bump doesn't rearrange the blinds?
  • MrM3MrM3 Council Member
    Very sweet!! Nice work.
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    O-rings are a tight fit. I don't see them going anywhere. If it proves to be a problem, I'll just put a spot of glue on each one, or maybe a tiny nail under each blind. We'll see.
  • JDMWago666JDMWago666 Senior Wagonist
    Excellent work! Can't wait to see how they look on the car.
  • moebiiusmoebiius Wagonist
    Are the louvres / daisy blinds functional? Or do they just stay at a set angle? Pardon me if it's a stupid question. I was just thinking how cool it would be to hook up a small motor and have the blinds close and open at the flip of a switch...kind of like the sunroof switches.
  • JDMWago666JDMWago666 Senior Wagonist
    As far as I know they have a switch/button that makes them open and close.
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    Don't know. I wanted to make mine adjustable, but for ease of construction I went with a fixed angle.
  • 3rd4ce3rd4ce Council Member
    I re-read, and saw that you said you were hoping to. Sigh...
    I know i was sleep walking but did i miss these..????
    :roll:
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    Yep, you missed them. I have been way to busy with life right now to play with the wagon much :( Hopefully I'll have them mounted before too long!
  • 503Wagon503Wagon moderator
    thats awesome man, i saw these on a couple of wagons in a magazine and always thought they looked neat.
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