Automatic Curtain Opener

Getting up in the morning can be a struggle for students. Especially those who are just getting back into school. I would know as I'm currently a student at Kalani High School. Who wants to have to wake up early in the morning to the same annoying alarm every single day. That's why I decided to design an automatic curtain opener. Now you can wake up every morning to the beautiful morning sun. Waking up to the sunlight is also scientifically proven to result in greater alertness and better sleep. Not only that but it can also save you time. Why have to get up to close or open your curtains when you can have them do it automatically. If I were to make this I would program it so you could set an alarm to open or close your curtains at a specific time.

To CAD this all you need is Fusion 360 and a working computer

Though if you wanted to actually make it you would need

• Two small motors - In my CAD I had actually modeled them after small CIM motors but that's a bit overkill for a curtain I think
• Sheet metal - If you wanted to build the housing though not entirely necessary, just need a way to mount it to the wall
• Pulleys with Hex Hub
• Hex rod
• Gearbox for motor - unless directly driven
• 3d printer or mold for curtain holders and motor - Alternately could use simple rings and clips
• Rope or wire

While researching on how to make this I actually discovered that unsurprisingly this already exists. However these small robot curtain openers cost somewhere within the hundred dollar range and I still wanted to design my own.

I came across some other curtain openers, which I personally thought were too bulky. I couldn't find how they worked online but I took the idea of the rail type system for my own design which lead me to use a pulley system with guided rails so the curtain moved smoothly.

Idea #1: This was my original concept Idea I came up with, it was a pulley that pulled along a rope that would then pull on a spring. The curtain holder would then go onto the string and be pulled back by the pulley. When released it supposedly would be pulled back by the force of the spring.

Idea #2: Practically the same as idea #1 but this time there's a pipe that serves as a rail for the holders to slide along. It featured a gap in the pipe for a piece of the holder to slide in so it could have a string threaded through it. This system also used a spring to try and pull it back.

Idea #3: This idea is the one I actually decided to end up going with because it made the most sense logically. It uses two motors to power pulleys that pull the rope back and forth along the system. The holder is then guided along the rope back and forth.

In hindsight my first two ideas weren't the best. First off the spring would get worn out from being constantly extended. Second the force of the string would most likely not be enough to pull the curtain back fully and it would either pull very quickly or very slowly depending on the springs strength. Unless the motor slowly released the string instead of suddenly releasing it.

I had actually decided to CAD idea #2 because I had made this before I came up with idea #3. After making the CAD for it I had thought it was a complicated design and not really something I thought would work or I wanted.

The design for the pulley system if pretty simple as most pulleys are. The pulleys are made by make two circles, one smaller than the other. Then extruding the smaller circle longer than the larger and repeating the extrude of the larger circle on the other side of the pulley.

I then used the polygon sketch tool to create a hex shaped hole in the pulley and also create the motors hex shaft. The motor it's self is just a box connected to a cylinder which is then connected to the hex shaft.

The housings design is also quite simple, It's just a rectangle with two smaller rectangles attached, and then shelled out. To make it I just measured out where the motors and pulleys were and sketched out the shape and extruded. To make the rail I made a simple sketch of two parallel rectangles and then created a box over that so I could create a wall for the rail. I also then just extruded them to create the rail.

Getting a bit more complicated is the inner wall to prevent the curtain holders from hitting the pulley. To make it I first created a sketch of a box that would fit inside of the housing. Then I added holes for the rope to pass through. When I was making this I decided to add a ring to hold the curtain on so one side of it would be secured, and although both sides of the pulley have a wall only one side has the ring.

To make the curtain holder I simply just made a sketch over the railing to make sure the sizing was correct and made a hole for the rope to pass through. I then made the shaft that passes through the housing and the hole for the curtain to attach to.

I also added one holder that was connected to the rope so that it would pull the curtain along with it when the pulley was rotated.

I enjoyed the process I went though making and trying to design this automatic curtain opening system. I'm sure there's a lot I could improve on with this project. For example finding actual products that could be used to make this such as motors and chords for power and such. Along with electrical systems for remote control or alarm settings to open/close the curtains. If I ever get around to actually making this I hope to continue improving on this project and find out what might work better than this current system.