Some assembly required

Step 5: Some assembly required

I then went back to the top half of the casing and used my calipers to mark a center line all the way around the top ring then I used the piece of paper with the wedge lines cut out and marked the lines on the top ring. I then slid the top half of the casing over a block of wood and used a center punch to mark where the sharpie lines intersected with the scribed caliper line. Then I used the drill bit to drill holes where I marked with the punch. Then I stacked the leaves on the cam plate and slid it into the top half of the casing, making sure the pins in the leaves lined up with the holes in the top ring. Then I twisted the cam plate till the iris was fully opened and used a sharpie to mark a line on the bottom of the plate to the outside of the casing then I twisted the iris till it was as closed as possible and used the line on the plate as a reference and marked on the outside of the casing. This gave me the full length of travel the plate made. I then used my calipers to mark a line 1/8” from the bottom of the top casing from one mark to the other. I then used a cut off wheel to cut down that line which made a slot in the side of the casing. Then I took the assembled top half and slid it down into the bottom half as far as it would go and used a sharpie to mark a line around the top edge of the bottom half on the side of the top casing half. Then I took the top half back out and set the top half of the casing next to the bottom half. I then used the marked sharpie line on the top half to make sure it was lined up and marked a reference line where the slot was onto the bottom half. Then I marked the length of the slot on the bottom half and used the cut off wheel to cut a slot in it. Then I assembled the whole thing once more.