Latch slot cutting
I used the template in the plans to cut the slot in the side skin for the latch. I carefully positioned the template and used the center punch on each hole that needed to be drilled. After drilling the holes, I cut out the slots with a cutting wheel in the Dremel going very slowly and carefully. I finished up the slots with a small and then medium sized file. They turned out quite nicely. I clamped the latch assembly to the skin, but decided to re-evaluate the fit tomorrow with fresh eyes before drilling the holes through the assembly.
The latch is not 100% perfectly flush with the skin. At the front end it’s about 1/64″ inset from the skin. I can live with that. Ideally, Dan’s site wouldn’t have been down when I needed it last week, and I would have seen his suggestion to drill the pivot point hole in the angles from the latch rather than from the plans. No big deal, though. Overall the latch is looking very cool.
July 19th, 2005 at 11:18 am
Before you drill the angles to the skin, add the UMHW tape on them. They have some thickness and if you don’t, the latch arm won’t fit in the slot when you do add the UMHW tape.
July 19th, 2005 at 1:38 pm
Thanks for the tip. I have some UMHW tape on order, but it hasn’t arrived yet. At the moment, I have some 0.016 aluminum spacers on each side of the lever.