Finished Drilling and Mounting Outer Foot Strips

Tonight I finished mounting the foot strips that go on the outer feet.

The process was pretty much the same with these three foot strips as it was with the first one.

First, I marked and drilled the mounting holes.




Next, I taped the foot strip in place.



I then drilled pilot holes into the aluminum from the back.




Based on the pilot hole locations, I drilled deeper into the back of the foot strip, but not quite through it.



I used my trusty 4-40 tap to thread the holes. Obviously the tap bit cannot go very deep with such a shallow (1/8") piece to work with, but it turns out that just a few threads are sufficient, and the screw itself will self-tap as it screws deeper into the aluminum.




Next, I mounted the foot strip onto the foot shell, and marked pilot holes for the holes that accommodate the knurled fittings.



With those pilot holes marked, I removed the foot strip, and set it up on the drill press with the drill press vise. I squirted the piece down with WD-40 to keep the drill bit happy.



Then I drilled the 5/8" holes, making for nice aluminum scraps.




The process of drilling these relatively large holes from the back leaves a small volcano crater on the front side, which I plan to sand smooth later.



Finally, I drilled and mounted the two rear foot strips on the outer feet. These don't have the larger 5/8" holes drilled into them.



All done for now.



I managed to make some dimples on one of the rear foot strips by screwing the screws down too far into it. I'm not sure if I care, but I might either hammer them flat, or sand them flat. But I may well leave it alone.



I still need to mount the center foot strips, but I might do a little bit of work on the foot shell channel first.