Two questions/problems. How to secure the pins in the "chain". For that I thought o would try to crush one end of the pin to it just gets snug when pushed into the hole. Other thoughts here are welcome. I am not sure how I'm going to deform the end of the pin? They are pretty hard piano wire and I cut them with a dremel tool so they came out fairly clean.
Second issue I have had from day one. When dirt collects between the pads they don't want to lay flat. I am tempted to cut off or shorten the pads on the front and trailing edges, but this may change the look significantly.
In the picture the pads are pretty clean, I just finished cleaning between the pads with a tool.
Here is the other side still on the machine and NOT cleaned up. You can see how the dirt between each pad causes it to push away from laying flat. This can get so bad that the machine rides on a high spot and rocks fore and aft on the high point.
Jim