Warbird Information Exchange

Hi Dan,

"DD" are not bad to shoot once you're set up. I shot a whole bunch when I was doing the BT-13 wings. I will PM you the rivet supplier.

We treat "E" rivets as repair rivets. Once we put the plane down for a B or C check, we would drill them out and install "DD"'s.

I also still need to send you the BT pictures. I got tied up with my wife's birthday and work.

Cheers,

Bill

Thanks for that, Bill. Any idea what the heating procedure (time, temp, etc) is for them? I know they're quenched afterward in ice water and then packed in dry ice until they're ready to shoot. I may have a line on some but if you could let me know your supplier that would be great - thanks for the help. I have a place locally that can heat treat them but I know they'll have no idea of what the correct procedure is. Looking forward to the pictures!

Dan

_________________
Defending Stearmans on WIX since Jeff started badmouthing them back in 2005.

I have shot zillions of DD rivets and can not recommend them even if you found them. b29flteng is spot on. Go with the E rivet.

Heat treating DDs was tedious and unforgiving. Never again for this guy.

Note to those folks having problems drilling aluminum rivets out. Try using a sharp bit...

Yes the A rivets are like putty. They seem to want to grab the bit and suck it in...

_________________
Bill Goebel
aka TPFD

Vintage Aircraft Services
Aircraft restoration and rebuilding
Rhome, TX

http://www.vintageaircraftservices.net

Dan

We shot DD's where they were needed on the center section. I bought an oven from these folks:

http://hotfurnace.com/

Got the DD's from Siearra Pacific Supply - 310-638-9318 but you may have to go to other places to get the ones you want.

IIRC we heat them to 930 - 950 F for about an hour and a half, water quench, dip them in isopropal so they won't stick together in the freezer, then put in freezer. We did about 150 at a time. We kept the freezer at 0 F and some of them could be driven a week and a half later. Like the guys said a good team will know when to stop by the sound. If I had to do another BT I will shoot DD's. For us they were not that bad. The only places on the center section is along the spar caps top and bottom and the ribs where the gear strut carry throughs are back to the rear spar. This is a double row you can just see in the photo. We just did the annual last week and the bottoms of the center section are dry (52 hours since rebuild and about 40 gallons per side). Some DD's were also in the wing as Bill pointed out.

Mark D