Mounted Booster Cover Tops, Traced Ankle Bracelets

Today I continued work on the booster cover top pieces, this time working on the mounting screws.

The first step is to trace an outline of the booster cover tops onto a piece of paper, using a razor blade to cut out the footprint of each piece.



The outlines are then taped to the pieces. I've marked where I want to drill the holes, 3/4" from the left and right edges, and 2.25" from the bottom. This makes the nuts on the screws reachable from the inside when the aluminum shoulder hub is removed from the leg.



I cut the tops off of four 8-32 x 1.50" screws that I'll be using to mount the booster cover tops to the legs.



I set the drill press to drill 1/2" deep into the part. Note that because there is a three degree angle already shaved off the front face, I used the scrap material from this earlier cut to prop the piece up so that the drilled surface would be perpendicular to the drill bit.




Four holes later, and the screws are in for a test fit. So far, so good.



Next, I aligned the booster cover body piece so that it was exactly centered on the leg. Then, I removed the template from the top piece and taped it in place on the leg itself.



Now the scary part, drilling the leg. I was very careful to align the drill bit to match the center of the hole on the template.



The holes do indeed line up with the screws in the booster cover top piece.



At least as important, the booster cover body pieces match up perfectly with the top pieces on each leg. Not too loose, not too tight, and nice and centered.



While I had the booster cover body piece centered on the leg, I set up the ankle bracelet so I could trace the footprint of the booster cover with a pin.



After loosening the clamps, I moved the booster cover away from the bracelet to see the results.



Finally, I used a straight edge to complete the lines.



Hopefully I can finish the bracelets tomorrow, and work on getting the booster cover body pieces mounted too. We'll see.