pic: Offseason Shooter CAD Project

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

/snip

Finally, you are not going to be able to get away with tapping 10-24 or 10-32 screws into the side of 1/4" plate. There's just not enough material for that to work. I would find another way to bolt things to the side of your material. Look at the VersaChassis gussets, simple L brackets, or capturing 2x1 tubing between your plates, etc. for an alternate solution.

I 100% agree with everything you said except for this last part. Tapping 10-32 into 1/4" plate has been done by my team and others many times (particularly last year) and is definitely strong enough to take loads. 10-24 might be worse considering the lower TPI, but 10-32 is definitely ok. Considering the number of screws in his design I don't think it's necessary to complicate it by adding different fastening methods.
I do agree that a lot of this can become tubing and that will simplify a lot of things (including being able to remove the sideplates or mount them easier).