Cutout for line exit plate

[Ian McColgin]

In the normal run of things, a few cutouts with plates won't do the boom any harm. I guess if you had them tightly packed side to side at a point of bending stress on a boom that's already pushing the lightness envelope you could cause a problem but up towards the gooseneck the boom really experiences only mild compression strain. If you put a lot of holes in the attachment area of a mid-boom sheeting, then you'd have some trouble.

[allene]

Any sharp corner will be what is called a stress concentrator and if the boom cracks, the crack will start there. Better to remove the sharp corner with a round file so that it will take more stress for the boom to crack and have it crack somewhere else. Removing even a fair amount of metal to make the corner round will be stronger than having it have a sharp edge. A round hold in the boom will remove almost no strength. A square hole would weaken it a fair amount.