Greg87 wrote:
Wouldn't you risk altering the heat treatment properties of the 2024? Just curious.
It takes a while for the grain structure to change when exposed to temperature. Short durations (like 30 seconds) should not have a measurable affect under probably 500 degrees C/932 Degrees F, which is the approximate solution treatment temperature which is applied for some hours. You'd never get that out of a hair dryer and probably, because of conduction, might have trouble getting that out of a commonly available industrial electric heat gun.
That's not to say that putting the tailboom of your P-38 in a furnace at 1000 degrees F for 30 seconds would be a good idea though. It might permanently twist like a pretzel from residual stresses, but at least the heat treat would be OK.