IKEA VIDGA motorized curtains.

I stumbled across these IKEA VIDGA curtain sliders after a visit to their store and wondered if I could design something to make them motor driven.
After some measurements I started designing a motor and idler mount that can attach on the end of the sliders. This way I can run a GT2 belt through the slider with the curtain attached to some clips that are hooked onto the belt.
After a day of designing I came up with this prototype. As you can see it is not perfect but it does the job for me.

Links to Fusion 360 files:
Motor Mount: https://a360.co/2pPQGG8
Idler Mount: https://a360.co/2ryaxdl
GT2 Pulley: https://a360.co/2K7KWhK
GT2 Idler: https://a360.co/2NyOdIR
Clip 1: https://a360.co/34MODRS
Clip 2: https://a360.co/32yqfBS

Link to a remix that uses the NEMA17 stepper motor: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3621216
I haven't tested the remix yet. If someone has, please leave a comment below. Thanks!

BOM

• IKEA VIDGA curtain slider(s) and accessories
• 1x 28BYJ-48 Stepper Motor
• 3x M3 Screws (2x short / 1x longer)
• 1x M3 Nut
• GT2 Timing Belt (the length depends on the size of your window)
• 1x 608ZZ bearing

All the parts listed above are available on AliExpress.

Assembly

Motor mount

1. Take the motor mount, GT2 pulley, 28BYJ-48 Stepper Motor and 2 short M3 screws
2. Put the pulley inside the motor mount so that it lines up with the hole for the motor shaft
3. Take the stepper motor and press the shaft into the pulley
4. When the stepper motor is attached to the pulley fasten it to the motor mount by screwing in the two M3 screws

Note: it could be helpfull to put a spacer underneeth the GT2 pulley to get the motor shaft in far enough.

Idler mount

1. Take the idler mount, GT2 idler, bearing slot, 608ZZ bearing, long M3 screw and M3 nut
2. Press the 608ZZ bearing into the GT2 idler
3. Press the bearing slot into the 608ZZ bearing facing the right direction (see image above from fusion 360)
4. Slide the GT2 idler assembly in the idler mount so that it lines up with the holes
5. Drive the long M3 screw through the idler mount and the GT2 pulley (make sure the head of the screw is in the inlet on the idler mount)
6. Screw the nut on from the other side
7. Don't fasten it to hard, this will be done later to tension the GT2 belt

VIDGA curtain slider
To assemble the VIDGA curtain slider itself, you can just follow the instructions given by IKEA.
When that is complete put the motor and idler mount on the ends of the slider.
After that take the GT2 belt and run it through the slider and through the motor and idler mount, measure the length of the belt and cut it. Then take Clip 1 and make the belt a closed loop. After that you have to fiddle the clip into the slider at one end and slide it all the way to the other end of the slider. This can be done by removing the idler or motor mount from the slider. When Clip 1 is at the other end of the slider you can attach Clip 2 to the GT2 belt, this way both clips are on either side of the rail. Put the idler or motor mount back on and everything is assembled. Now put the curtain on the slider and you're done.

Controlling the motor

To control the motor you can choose between different platforms.
It's possible to use an Arduino if you don't need wifi connectivity and just use some buttons to control the curtain.

What I do is use an ESP8266 to control the curtain via OpenHAB and MQTT.

To control the motor I use the AccelStepper library.
The program I wrote for the ESP8266 can be downloaded from Github.

I also made a little PCB for the ESP8266 and some other components. This PCB is just something I quickly put together. I will design a better PCB and associated enclosure later and also link it in here. For now you can find the PCB I'm using here.