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Working with Titanium
wobblywalrus:
Titanium is sometimes referred to as "the titan of metals." It is also called a number of other unprintable names. The stuff can be difficult to impossible to work with. Some methods follow. They are done using small and old tooling like most of us have. Suppliers are named so a person will know about a source. ASTM Grade 5 annealed titanium alloy with 6 percent aluminum and 4 percent vanadium is used. This is often called "structural ti." References to "Bradley" are in Volume 2 of John Bradley's "The Racing Motorcycle." He has a chapter on titanium alloys.
The metal can be machined using conventional high speed steel or carbide bits and drills. Occasionally there will be a tool that wears quickly. The carbide boring bar bit shown wore down almost instantly. There was never a problem when it was used on other metals. Carbide insert tooling is what I use now for these reasons. The bits are available with a variety of coatings and some resist wear very well. This saves a lot of sharpening. A variety of chip breakers can be had that result in good finish quality and I cannot duplicate them on HSS bits. Bradley recommends using tools for titanium that are not used to machine other metals. It is easier to have a supply of bits used for ti rather than a special set of cutting tools.
My little lathe uses 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch tool bits. It would be very expensive to adapt it to modern tool holders for carbide insert bits. Instead, an intermediate solution is used. It is the tool bits shown. They have carbide inserts and fit in old style tool holders. A page listing the bits is shown from the 2011 Sam A. Mesher Tool catalog. They are in Portland ad they specialize in being able to find weird machine tooling. www.meshertool.com
manta22:
WW;
I don't do any titanium machining (6Al4V usually) other than drilling & cutting sheet metal. If you treat titanium like stainless steel, you'll be on the right track-- heavy pressure & low rpm with cutting fluid works well with high-speed steel drills.
Cutting 6Al4V sheet metal is problematic. I've tried hacksaws, abrasive cut-off wheels, and anything else I could think of but the only method that works for me is a plasma cutter. To dress up the cut edges, I use an angle grinder with a 3M Cubitron II oriented ceramic abrasive disc.
One more point to add to your excellent post-- even 6Al4V titanium is not necessarily stronger than many good alloy steels; it is its strength to weight ratio that is outstanding.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
fordboy628:
Ti is sexy and light, but often not necessary. Check out the retainers on MM's BMC.
:cheers:
Fordboy
wobblywalrus:
A post coming up will address this. Ti is real good for a limited range of applications, like you say.
aircap:
Be mindful of your titanium dust when grinding. I ignited my Tshirt once when a spark lit all the dust on my shirt. There was a bright flash, a wave of heat crossed my face, and I suddenly had an 8 inch diameter glowing ring on my stomach with exposed skin showing. It quickly went in the sink while I secured another shirt.
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