Drilling Struts
 3na the Jellyfish

 The Home Dome

 Cutting Struts

 Drilling Struts

 Assembly

 Nosefish Dome Deck

 The Desert Nose

 Roller Disco 2002

 l0l

 The Fishmobile

 Camp Nose Fish 2011

 Gray Water

 Fish Hats

 Nosefish Shower

 The Fishcycle




A drill press makes the drilling job a lot safer and easier. The jig is a 2x4 with a V about 3/4 inch deep cut into it lengthwise. I used a tablesaw, but if you don't have an easy way to make the cut, you can build up a channel by using two lengths of quarter-round moulding or even just two long strips of wood set just far enough apart so the conduit nestles securely between them.

It is important to clamp the jig is clamped to the drill-press table so you can drill holes in exactly the same position for struts of the same length.

Be sure that the drill is aligned exactly over the center and at the correct distance from the end of the strut.

Drilling the struts produces a lot of metal shavings. These are razor sharp and get stuck to your shoes, in your fingers, etc. Blow these away or use a brush. Don't brush them away with your fingers or you'll get nasty metal slivers.

After drilling the strut and brushing away the metal shavings there will be some excess material around the hole (usually on the underside). This material is a result of the drilling process and is called flash. You must remove the flash or it will interfere with assembly and will probably cut someone badly when they grab a strut by its end.

You can use a special chamfer bit in a hand drill or drill press, or use a hand chamfering tool. Removing the flash is pretty easy with one of these tools.

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