We left off Part VII with a good start on the holster and a lesson in magnets. I took a pause on the holster to finally fix the issue of the nuts backing out of the shroud that I hadn't fully addressed in Part VI.
The problem was that when I screwed the set screws all the way down to secure the shroud against the Kimber's DASA's barrel, the nuts that held the set screws in place would be pushed out the bottom of the shroud.
My new plan to fix this was to enclose the bottom of the shroud with a stainless steel "cage," that would hold the set screw nuts in place. This would have the additional benefits of protecting the bottom of the shroud from getting dinged up and provide an excellent magnetic surface to lock into the holster. The downside would be the additional weight.... but since the objective of this project has never been practicality..... weight be darned!
I got some stainless steal L stock and began cutting.
The steel stock was 1" x 1", which meant I needed to cut about half of one leg off of two pieces so they'd meet in the middle at the bottom of the acetal shroud. Once I had two pieces meeting in the middle, I drilled the right hand side piece so the bolt for the Hoptic Quiver could pass through it and into the inside of the shroud.
I then drilled 1/16" roll pin holes through the steel cage and the shroud to secure the cage to the shroud and removed some of the excess steel on the cage. As I started shaping the cage, I realized that it made the shroud look much more interesting than when it was just a big chunk of acetal plastic.
With the roll pins set, I drilled holes in the bottom of the cage to allow for tightening and loosening the set screws. Then, I JB welded the pants off the sucker using a plastic bag around the shroud to keep the epoxy from permanently attaching the cage to the shroud.
Once the epoxy set and I'd sanded it all smooth, I did another test fit and tightened down the set screws.........
and it worked! Really well actually, and the steel adds some serious cool points. In the picture above you can see the 48-lb magnets from the holster attached to the bottom of the cage. The magnetic pull from those magnets to the cage is quite strong to say the least.
The shroud is now functionally complete so I can get back the holster building, knowing the final shape and magnetic points on the shroud.