I made the final decision to forego using the switch guards on the angle console panel. Using a scrap piece of aluminum sheet I set the microstop to countersink the holes in order to have them sit just a couple thousands proud (sticking above) the surface when set.
After setting all the rivets I used a sanding block with 220 grit paper and ran it over the panel surface to remove the excess from the rivet heads. It worked good and once primed and painted will probably not even be visible on the panel surface.....or at lease barely visible.
Next I worked on the rheostats on the right subpanel. The hole sizes were perfect as they had very little play in them. The rheostats have a little anti-rotation tab on them for tightening purposes. I didn't want to drill a hole through the panel so I made a counterbore about .045 deep on the .060 thick subpanel. I will remove some material off the tab so it fits in the hole down to about .035-.040 for the anti-rotation benefit.
