DZUS Fasteners

OEM blanking plates complete with DZUS fasteners recently removed from a scrapped 737 - the dirt and dust is still on them! Note three differing sizes - 1" 2" and 4"

No matter what style of simulator you are using or have constructed, you will most likely have a center pedestal installed. The pedestal will be either a two-bay or three-bay type and be a genuine aviation part incorporating DZUS fastener rails, or a reproduction unit manufactured from wood, metal or plastic.

The two-bay pedestals, once allotted the standard Boeing avionics suite, usually have no space remaining for additional avionics; however, the three-bay pedestals have substantially more 'real estate' and often gaps are remaining that are not filled with avionics. Most enthusiasts either leave this space open which looks very unsightly, or manufacture their own plate to cover the gap.

OEM Blanking Plates

Why not use the real part….

Boeing produces several blanking plates in varying sizes to be used to cover any 'gaps' not used in the center pedestal, forward and aft overhead panel, or Main Instrument Panel (MIP). These plates are machine-grade light weight steel (or aluminum), are painted Boeing grey, and incorporate the required number of DZUS fasteners for attachment to DZUS rails. The plates come in a variety of sizes with 1 inch, 2 inch, and 4 inch being the norm.

These plates are inexpensive and usually retail between $5.00 - $20.00 USD, and not only fulfill the task of covering an unsightly gap, but are easy to install, come pre-cut, are painted the right colour, and usually have DZUS fasteners attached to them.

If not using real DZUS rails and your pedestal in made from wood or plastic, then it’s relatively easy to remove the fasteners and replace them with reproduction screw-type DZUS available from GLB Products.

Most aircraft wrecking yards carry these plates, as airlines regularly purchase them. Failing this E-Bay often has blanking plates for sale.

When I became interested in constructing a simulator, I heard knowledgeable people stating DZUS this or that - I had no idea what these individuals were referring to, let along how to pronounce the word.

Dzus (pronounced Zooss) is a proprietary name for a type of quarter-turn fastener often used to secure skin panels on aircraft.

It was invented and patented by a native Ukrainian William Dzus (Volodymyr Dzhus) in the early 1930s. Quarter-turn fasteners are used to secure panels in equipment, airplanes, motorcycles, and racing cars that must be removed often and/or quickly. These fasteners are notable in that they are of an over-center design, requiring positive sustained torque to unfasten. A DZUS fastener will correct itself rather than proceed to loosen as it would in threaded fasteners.

Real DZUS Fasteners

Finding individual real DZUS fasteners can be difficult as they are mostly attached to avionics panels, and the vendor wants to keep them with the panel. If you search long enough, eventually you will find an aviation scrap yard that has them available as separate units. I recently saw several selling on e-bay quite cheaply. I have a small collection of grey, black and bare metal coloured fasteners in varying condition, obtained from a scrapped Boeing 737 (I bought them in a 30 piece lot). The fasteners are needed to lock down any avionics panels to the DZUS rails of the OEM center pedestal and overheads and some panels in the MIP.

Reproduction DZUS Fasteners

If you’re using a OEM center pedestal with a DZUS rail, reproduction panels such as those produced by CP Flight or SISMO will not be able to secure to the rail easily. You will need to enlarge the circular hole along the edge of the module to allow the real DZUS fasteners to fit easily and correctly. If you decide to do this, be mindful that you don’t damage the edge of the module when you enlarge the circular hole. I used a titanium drill bit and carefully secured the panel in question in a vice on a workshop bench (wrapped carefully to avoid the vice jaws damaging the module) before drilling.

If you have replicated the center pedestal from MDF or wood and want to use something more realistic than boring screws to attach your panels, you can purchase after market'look alik’ DZUS screws. Basically these are wood screws with DZUS style heads on them. Good quality aluminium DZUS screws can be purchased from GLB Flight Products. I’ve used these on my earlier generic flight deck and they work very well and look just like the real ones…

Acronyms

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer.