I double checked the measurements I made last night and found them spot on, so I got started cutting out the slots. I used a unibit to remove most of the material.
I then spent a few minutes with the hand nibbler removing most of the rest of the material to just inside the lines I’d marked.
I then clamped a steel straight edge along the line I drew and filed down to the line. The steel straight edge serves two purposes, it helps ensure that the filed edge is perfectly straight and it prevents filing past the line since the file basically stops cutting when it hits the straight edge.
After about 30 minutes of filing, the latch fits pretty well in the slots. I had to round the corners of the latch pieces slightly since I didn’t want a sharp inside corner on the skins because that could lead to cracking. At this point, the latch operates pretty well; good enough that I can go ahead and drill the attach angles to the skin. Once the final position of the latch is defined, I’ll finish filing the edges to provide even clearance all around the latch.
