Go Back to Part 1 of Installation

I will be using a 1/2" brad point drill bit to create the corner "cuts". This was suggested by xterran01 (from www.xterraownersclub.com), and worked nicely. It gives you a nicely rounded corner, and it give you a starting hole for your jigsaw/dremel. To mark the center of the holes, since I'm using a 1/2" bit, I marked 1/4" in each direction from the corned, and drew the perpendiculars until they met. That gives me the center of a 1/2" hole at a 1/4" distance from the 2 edges.


Welp, This is the point of no return. Here, I've drilled a 1/2" hole in one of the corners. This will serve as a starting hole for my jigsaw.


All my cuts are now finished. The straight lines were pretty simple. After drilling the corner holes, I just sawed from hole to hole, following my cut lines I marked earlier. I used a jigsaw with a 14tpi plastic cutting blade. The slowest setting on my saw gave the cleanest cut(the masking tape helped a LOT), so i just kept it on that and took my time. The only "tricky" part is the row of plastic ribs on the lower portion of the stock deflector. However, the jigsaw cut right thru them with no problem. The trick is to take your time and not force anything. It might take it a few seconds, but the jigsaw WILL cut them. This picture shows the deflector after all the cutting and drilling has been completed. Only thing left to do now is clean up the corners and smooth the edges of the cuts.


After my cutting was complete, I used a small half-round file to clean up the corners, and then some medium sandpaper to knock the corners off of the jigsaw cuts. I also used the sandpaper along the inside edge of the cut lines just to dress up that edge, as some of it will be visible from the interior of the X.


The instructions suggested starting at the left and right edges working your way toward the middle. This worked out nicely. This is where you'll find out if you marked/drilled your screw holes correctly. This photo also shows the usage of the Home Depot screw caps.


Continue to Part 3 of Installation