: I am nearly to the point of cutting the hatch openings on the Silver and am
: interested in using the rare earth magnet technique that has been
: discussed extesively here. I searched, read and understood most of what
: has been discussed, but find myself with one question: How the heck do you
: drill 1/8" deep holes 3/16" material without blasting through
: the other side? I have thought of adding additional layers of glass at the
: underside of the hatches so that there would be added thickness to work
: with. I've also thought of chucking up a router bit in the drill press,
: but that seems a little scary as well. Plunge router? Yikes...

: Just wondering how anyone else might have solved this.

: thanks,
: -bruce

Bruce

On the hatch lips, I did blow right through with a drill bit. 3/8 on the magnet side, and 1/2 on the other so I could sink a steel washer on the back side of the hatch lip. This "should" intensify the magnetic forces between the two magnets. The back of the lip was then covered with some 5.5oz CF and the top surface with 6oz glass. The magnets will rust if they see moisture. The hatch itself is a different story. I used a 3/8 Forstner(sp?) bit with the tip ground off mounted in a drill press. I made several trial runs on some scrap ply until I was CONFIDENT that I would not drill through the top. So I drank a beer and got started. Made the first few too shallow, but once my confidence was up a little, the rest turned out just fine. Since the hatch will get glass on the underside, it will cover the magnets and protect from rusting. I just had to double and triple check to make sure the polarity was right before I glued them in place.

Hope this helps. Just go slow and use a jig if you can make one up. It'll turn out cooler than you hoped.

Larry