Heat treating wing ribs

All Thumbs wrote:

Richard Lamb wrote in message I must have missed the memo...

What airplane are you building that calls for heat treated ribs????

Richard

I am re-building a BD-4 with metal wings. I purchased the ribs from
a vendor. They are .032 2024 T0 aluminum. The vendor told me up
front that his attempts to heat treat these ribs had resulted in
cracking, although we did not discuss what method he used. Since then
I've been told that aside from being structurally unsound, "0"
condition aluminum will be difficult to rivet due to it's softness.
I'm hoping that some heat treater in So Cal will have the experience
to treat these without destroying them.

Craig


Ok, I can understand that.

However, for homebuilt construction, that is so far out of line I
can't quite figure out how to say it politely...

Forming ribs in a pair of form blocks will cause the rib to be a
little bit curved because of the stretched metal in the flange
area.

Usually the curve is corrected with a pair of fluting pliers which
are used to put small dents in the flange, thus pulling the rib
straight.

I don't claim to have studied every design in the homebuilt arena,
but I can't think of a single amateur built design that calls for
ribs to be formed in O contition then heat treated.

Sounds like a rip-off to me...

How about naming the "vendor" so nobody else gets burned.

Richard

Buying the ribs untreated was my decision, I had full knowledge, so I
don't consider this a rip-off. If anything, I am guilty of being
arrogant enough to think I could do it better. I bought Pazmanys'
book about building, and his ribs were formed the same way. For all I
know, the vendor, a fellow BD flyer, would take the ribs back. I want
to make this work, I just want to know to know how (or where) to do
it.

Craig

[apologies if this is a re-post; Google acted like it lost the first
one]

Earlier, Richard Lamb wrote:

I don't claim to have studied every design in the homebuilt arena,
but I can't think of a single amateur built design that calls for
ribs to be formed in O contition then heat treated.

I can name two: Pazmany PL-1 and PL-2.

Techniques for forming and straightening, and advice on obtaining the
tempering services, are described in the Pazmany book "Light aircraft
construction for amateur builders" available through the Pazmany web
site:

http://www.pazmany.com/books/books.html

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com

All Thumbs wrote:

Buying the ribs untreated was my decision, I had full knowledge, so I
don't consider this a rip-off. If anything, I am guilty of being
arrogant enough to think I could do it better. I bought Pazmanys'
book about building, and his ribs were formed the same way. For all I
know, the vendor, a fellow BD flyer, would take the ribs back. I want
to make this work, I just want to know to know how (or where) to do
it.

Craig

Ok, well, best of luck.
Have you found a place that con do them?