Re: [ATM] re: metal working Titanium

[James P Crombie <jpcrombie@pei.eastlink.ca>]

I will throw my 2cents worth in  :-)   With the proper tooling titanium 
can be sucessfully machined even be an amateur.  As earlier stated, 
sharp tools are a must.  A dull drill or cutting tool will cause you 
more that just an even duller tool, it could even catch fire if you are 
persistant enough :-)   Pratt and Whitney Canada, in Halifax lost a CNC 
Milling machine to a titanium fire when a broken tool was missed and 
tried to drill a hole with it.  Like magnesiun, when titanium catches 
fire you cannot put it out be normal means.  The fire have to be 
smoothered with a sand like material that fuses and cuts off the oxygen 
supply.  Water will actually feed the fire, as the heat disassociates 
the Oxygen and then combines with the titanium.
 Warnings aside, I found that a good quality carbide insert with ground 
finish and high positive cutting edge and pvd coatings gives excellent 
results for turning(my fav -kennametal kc7310 grade)
As for drilling, a m42 cobalt drill with split point and run at 40-50 
fpm with lots of coolant. also use a high feed, and try to avoid 
dwelling in the cut(this aplies to all cutting operations)
 There are several different alloys available, some are relatively easy 
to machine and others will only submit to the best carbides.  I have a 
couple of blocks of and unknown grade that stripped the teeth off of my 
bandsaw, without leaving a mark :-)

Rod Shea wrote:

> For more gory details of working with Ti, look at this .pdf. 
> www.timet.com/pdfs/ti-handbook.pdf
>
>
> Rod
>
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