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All holes have now been
drilled into the dovetail plate. Both for the cradle rings and
dovetail bar. Upon closer inspection, you will see that I have
tapped the outside center holes for the dovetail bar. This was done
because the cradle rings will be mounted rather close to them on top
of the dovetail plate and I did not have room for a nut. So a
threaded rod with a crown nut will be used whereby the end of the
thread rod will not penetrate above the dovetails top surface where
the cradle rings will be mounted. You'll see what I mean later.
Now, since I do not have
any photos of the what I did after cutting and drilling the holes,
this is what I did next: 1) Rounded off all edges and four corners
of the dovetail plate with a bench grinder (please
use the appropriate type of grinding wheel for this job!!!).
2) Sanded and buffed the dovetail plate using 220-grit followed by
Scotch-BriteŽ heavy duty scouring pad. 3) Removed all dirt and
aluminum residue and particulate matter with Goo-GoneŽ acetone based
cleaner.
NOTE: Aluminum can
clog up an ordinary grinding wheel pretty bad. So be sure to use one
for non-ferrous metals. Also exercise all safety measures when
grinding.
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