Today, among other things, I continued working on the map box door. A while back I order a couple different latches. Both latches are the type that you press to release (like entertainment system doors). One of the latches was magnetic and used a steel striker on the door. The other is non-magnetic and used a ball and catch (like a trailer hitch). After some though I decided to go with the non-magnetic version, since I don't need any more magnetic fields near my panel than I already have from the electrical.
The latch came with a plastic ball/latch, but I didn't much like that so I decided to make my own out of aluminum. I was very very pleased with the result. Before you machinist say you could knock that out in 30 seconds on a lathe, keep in mind that I don't have a lathe and did it freehand with files with the rod chucked up in my drill press.
With my oh-so-cool latch ball finished I went ahead and riveted the flanges I already made to the instrument panel. I also riveted the hinge to the panel and put some temporary screws in to attach the box.
