3/16 Titanium

Ban

Ban

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I just got a 3/16 sheet of Titanium that is roughly 12"X36" Not sure what I am gonna do with it yet. Was thinking about some BT4s and possibly something bigger. You guys got any ideas?
 
Hmm...titanium sword? haha jk.

A titanium BT4 or BT4 recurve with carbide would actually be kinda cool. :thumbup:
 
MRpink said:
Hmm...titanium sword? haha jk.

A titanium BT4 or BT4 recurve with carbide would actually be kinda cool. :thumbup:
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Yeah I think Ti BT4 and Recurves will be pretty darn cool. Maybe even some skeletonized ones.
 
Finished grinding this titanium BT4 today. Not sure if I should put handle slabs or if I should just leave it skeletonized and bevel all the edges. What do you guys think? Still needs to be polished a bit more and then carbidized and sharpened.

Grinding Titanium is a real pain. Seriously hot sparks are flying everywhere when I was leaning into it to hog off material. My new 36grit 3M ceramic belt was done after few minutes into it. Had to switch off to a 40grit Norton Blaze to finish my rough grinding. Not sure what it is about Ti but it sure kills belts fast. Need to find a better solution.

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To me, something this size is more likely to be used for extended cutting tasks, not just the slice here and there like a smaller blade. In that case, I vote for slabs of some sort (CF?). But I'd be lying if I said I'm not intrigued by the idea of leaving it a soft-edged skeleton that could be wrapped if needed.

Does Ti kill belts quicker due to the galling? Work hardening? Crazy that it kills a 36 grit ceramic belt. You probably already know this, but a quick search yields threads which suggest grinding at a slower speed helps. What speed are you at? Less pressure seems to help too. What about a silicon carbide belt rather than ceramic?
 
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Right now I am thinking of some thinner handle slabs. Maybe just standard olive linen which I particularly like.

I am using medium speed with lots of pressure. Maybe I need to tone it down a bit and back off on the pressure :eek: But that is soooooo slow!
 
From my research, I've heard machining Ti is best done with lots of flutes on the cutter, small cuts but high speeds and feeds. At least that's how CNC shops optimize their programs for machining speed and tool life. They do some really deep pockets and thin walls with programs like that so I think it works pretty well.

I'm not sure how that translates to grinding but low speed seems like the wrong direction.
 
Most of the literature and anecdotes (example, example) I've seen indicates low speed is the way to go, for belt sanding. Perhaps it doesn't translate much.

One printed source ("Titanium: A Technical Guide" Matthew J. Donachie, Jr.):
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I admit due to a lack of machining knowledge/experience, I may be interpreting incorrectly. The stuff above isn't about belt grinding in specific, and are just general guidelines, so maybe it doesn't translate as well. The graphs in particular deal with turning and drilling. Somewhere in there he does mention using high-speed steel for milling/drilling, shrug. As usual, things need to be optimized based on your own application. This section deals with removal of scale through belt-grinding:

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ETA: You could be right Dan :thumbup: I'll look around a little more thoroughly later.


Ban, what about the 3M 967F cubitron belt?
 
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Ya the 967s Gold belts are supposed to cut well at slower speeds. The 60 grit are supposed to be the best.
 
norcalblacktail said:
Ya the 967s Gold belts are supposed to cut well at slower speeds. The 60 grit are supposed to be the best.
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I'd agree, the 60 grit 967 Golds are wicked at removing material and lasting longer than other belts. I'll have to see how they hold up against a Ti knife I'm making for a customer soon.

Ban, I think some thin olive slabs on that would look really good too:thumbup:
 
It's all speculation until you try it.

On second thought higher speeds might work great until the Ti heats up.

Things heat up real quick on a belt grinder so you might spend more time sticking the piece in water to cool it than you save with a higher cutting speed.

Going slower might extend the belt life but I doubt it will help with grinding speed.

And we want Ban to finish our knives fast...
 
Well yeah, it might not help with grinding speed (but then again, maybe, overall, it might). But I was looking towards this, not grinding speed:

Ban said:
[...]Not sure what it is about Ti but it sure kills belts fast. Need to find a better solution.[...]
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I'll throw another vote for the thin olive linen, I'm liking it more and more these days :thumbup:
 
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