Quote Originally Posted by Highplainsdakota View Post
Question: Should I get the aluminum panels off and send them straight to powder coat or should I drill for rivits, fit with clecos, and get farther along before powder coating?
Fit and drill first. You may find that you need to do some minor trimming which you wouldn't want to have to do on a finished piece and also doing it first avoids the potential of marring the coating if a drill bit walks or slips. If you use a #30 bit rather than 1/8" you probably won't need to clean the coating from the drilled holes but if you do a twist with a hand reamer makes short work of it.

Jeff