i have 3/8's titanium rod
can i stick it in a vice heat it up with a torch
and bend it by hand? accuracy is not an issue as
it is a 'honey do' to fix a purse.

any other suggestions accepted



laz

what is the length of this rod, and even more curious is how
does a 3/8" diameter rod fix a purse? depending on the angle
you may be able to bend it cold

Richard


"Laszlo Nemeth" wrote in message
. ..
i have 3/8's titanium rod
can i stick it in a vice heat it up with a torch
and bend it by hand? accuracy is not an issue as
it is a 'honey do' to fix a purse.

any other suggestions accepted



laz

AMW wrote:
what is the length of this rod, and even more curious is how
does a 3/8" diameter rod fix a purse? depending on the angle
you may be able to bend it cold

3/8 is what i have (local metal recycler).
the purse had a plastic 'D' ring thingy that
broke (on a 'new' ebay purchase for $30 of
a $200 purse). so i need to make a ~2" 'D' ring.
i'm thinking i might turn the rod down a bit
to make it easier to bend and have a nicer
surface finish.

i haven't worked with titanium other then to find
out: it sparks REAL nice and machines pretty good



laz

It should hot bend just fine- just dont get it too hot, or it will
oxidize- you dont need to get it red.

I hot twisted some 1 1/2" square titanium bar for some guys a while ago
on my twisting machine- we got it dull red, didnt even glow in
daylight, but in shadow you could see it dull red, then twisted it real
tight.
It definitely moves a lot easier when hot.

"Laszlo Nemeth" wrote in message
...
snip-------
i haven't worked with titanium other then to find
out: it sparks REAL nice and machines pretty good

laz

Ha! Tell me that when your carbide insert tool decides it's through
cutting. Titanium is one of the more difficult materials to machine,
although it is soft. When it decides it no longer wishes to cut---it
doesn't. Even when you're in the middle of tapping a thread.

Harold

Laszlo Nemeth writes:

i'm thinking i might turn the rod down a bit
to make it easier to bend and have a nicer
surface finish.

Caution! Pyrophoric! Swarf will ignite!

actually I would think even .093" stainless would hold much
better than the plastic, and if your handy with a TIG torch you
could tack the ends together after the install


Richard


"Laszlo Nemeth" wrote in message
...
AMW wrote:
what is the length of this rod, and even more curious is how
does a 3/8" diameter rod fix a purse? depending on the angle
you may be able to bend it cold

3/8 is what i have (local metal recycler).
the purse had a plastic 'D' ring thingy that
broke (on a 'new' ebay purchase for $30 of
a $200 purse). so i need to make a ~2" 'D' ring.
i'm thinking i might turn the rod down a bit
to make it easier to bend and have a nicer
surface finish.

i haven't worked with titanium other then to find
out: it sparks REAL nice and machines pretty good



laz

wrote:

It should hot bend just fine- just dont get it too hot, or it will
oxidize- you dont need to get it red.

I hot twisted some 1 1/2" square titanium bar for some guys a while ago
on my twisting machine- we got it dull red, didnt even glow in
daylight, but in shadow you could see it dull red, then twisted it real
tight.
It definitely moves a lot easier when hot.

I spoke with a blacksmith that was making forged titanium tongs. He
said that it was really easy to tell when it was too cool to continue
forging. The metal would move well when hot enough, and hitting it after
it cooled past the point, was just a poor way to exercise.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

snip-------
i haven't worked with titanium other then to find
out: it sparks REAL nice and machines pretty good

laz

Ha! Tell me that when your carbide insert tool decides it's through
cutting. Titanium is one of the more difficult materials to machine,
although it is soft. When it decides it no longer wishes to cut---it
doesn't. Even when you're in the middle of tapping a thread.

Harold


Especially when you're in the middle of tapping a hole, actually.

Mike

Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:
"Laszlo Nemeth" wrote in message
...
snip-------

i haven't worked with titanium other then to find
out: it sparks REAL nice and machines pretty good


Ha! Tell me that when your carbide insert tool decides it's through
cutting. Titanium is one of the more difficult materials to machine,
although it is soft. When it decides it no longer wishes to cut---it
doesn't. Even when you're in the middle of tapping a thread.


any warning signs to look for before this happens?
any advice on machining titanium? i just have a bunch
of scrap and haven't done anything with it (yet) other then
store it.

laz

AMW wrote:
actually I would think even .093" stainless would hold much
better than the plastic, and if your handy with a TIG torch you
could tack the ends together after the install


i don't have any stainless, i do have lots of titanium
rod. altho it is a great excuse to buy a tig welder
"honey i just bought this 2k tig welder to fix your
$30 purse"


laz

"Laszlo Nemeth" wrote in message
...
snip----

any warning signs to look for before this happens?
any advice on machining titanium? i just have a bunch
of scrap and haven't done anything with it (yet) other then
store it.

laz

I've machined it only a few times, one being the defense job . It was a
complicated form, so I ran it with my tracer.

Sadly, there doesn't appear to me much warning when the material decides
it's had enough. I experienced it when tapping the few holes (1/4"-28),
turning, and when I generated the center internal 3/4" hex, which was
accomplished by stroking with the quill of my Bridgeport. I ground a tool
that generated the inside angle (120 degrees) for this operation, and it
gave me fits. I had only .005" tolerance on the size of the hex, and it
used all of the tolerance because the material wouldn't cut straight. As the
tool moved along the
surface, which was maybe 1-1/4" long, it slowly moved away. I even tilted
the head to compensate, but there was no making a straight cut. I
attributed the problem to work hardening, not understanding anything else
that would have created the same condition. Had the material been aluminum
or mild steel, I would have been able to keep perfectly parallel sides when
generating the cut. Titanium is really strange as
compared to anything else I've machined aside from zirconium, which is very
similar, even in appearance.

One thing in your favor would be if you don't have to do any deep drilling
or tapping. I made some components for a gold refining cell from
titanium, with the material thickness only 1/8", and it worked fine. I even
had to make a 90 degree twist in the material and had no trouble, although
the cross section was well reduced. As I recall, the twisted portion was
1/8" square and was bent cold with no trouble. I managed to drill all
components without incident as I recall. It's been lots of years (more than
15) since my experience with the material. The defense job goes way back,
more than 25 years. I still remember it fairly well.

It's difficult to saw if you have a large surface. Small cutoff saws
struggle with it, experiencing considerable wander of the blade. It will
eventually quit cutting unless you have a fairly large saw with coarse
teeth. My saw is a Wells A-7 that uses a 1/2" X .025 blade. It's not up
to the task. As I said in my post, it's not hard---it is somewhat tough
and appears to work harden easily. I suggest you keep your tools sharp,
don't let a cut idle, such as when turning. It doesn't appear to enjoy real
heavy cuts with coarse feeds. Maybe a moderate depth of cut with medium
heavy feed---in the range of .008" for roughing. If the tool isn't
cutting, get it away from the material. Once it work hardens, it's much
like stainless in that it won't start cutting again, even with a new cutting
tool. It's very frustrating to deal with.

Sorry I'm not more help----I haven't machined enough of the stuff to have
learned much. I'm sure guys that work with it routinely have figured out
what to do, and when to do it. Too bad you haven't heard from some of the
guys that run CNC's at Boeing, where they are making huge elements from the
stuff for modern defense aircraft.

Harold