This weekend I got started on the altitude bearings. This is fairly easy work, but requires a bit of patience. After cutting the bearings out of .75" plywood, I clamped them together and roughly sanded the out edges to match. I had a bit of excess Ebony Star laminate, so I decided to dress up the top edge of the bearings. Clamping the laminate on the outer edges of the bearings while the glue set was easily accomplished with a tie-down strap, but the concave upper edge presented a problem. The solution was to put the strip in place, slide in the cutout scrap and then wedge the whole business between two nearly full gallon cans of paint.

Next is to find someone with the proper tools and experience to neatly trim the excess laminate. On the previous scope I pre-cut the strips to size with a sabre saw. The results were something less than professional and I want to do better this time.

UPDATE: I discovered a Northern Tool nearby where I bought a rotary tool. The diamond cutoff disc was just right for trimming the laminate very close to the face of the plywood, and I finished off with sandpaper to get a flush, smooth surface.

Images documenting my progress building v.2 can be found in this Flickr photo set.