Once the bolts are snugged up, take a quick check of the gaskets between the plates to be sure they are in place properly. At this point any gaskets protruding past the plate edges can be pushed back into place using your finger or a screw driver as shown in this picture. You might have to loosen the nut on the side slightly if the gaskets won't move. Once tucked in you can tighten the nut again with your fingers. If you turn the plate stack up vertically as shown in this picture, don't loosen more than one bolt at a time to tuck in gasket edges or plates could shift ruining alignment. Also handle this plate stack carefully to avoid dropping or bumping it which can also cause plates to slide. Once you get everything positioned perfectly, you're ready to put in the rest of the bolts, vinyl tube sleeves, and nylon lock nuts. If you begin to put the bolts in, don't forget you need to put the fitting pieces on too with gaskets.

Don't remove those first bolts, but leave them in place while you add the rest of the bolts. You'll notice there is resistance when tightening the nylon lock nuts. Don't tighten them too tight, but instead try to get a feel for them as you are tightening them down. Once you feel resistance stop tightening. Do them all evenly until all are in place. Then go back and remove the wing nuts, or temporary nuts, on the first bolts you used to assemble this. Then put on the nylon lock nuts on these too and snug them down. You really don't need to tighten them very much. Really. If you add water and you see a leak, tighten the bolts about 1/4 turn. If this doesn't stop the leak completely, go another 1/4 turn. Once tight they don't seem to leak between the plates even if you don't retighten them.

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