Cutting Ti, what's the best way??

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

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Sep 27, 2007
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Working on my first folder the last couple weeks, and I got to the point where I was cutting out my Ti liners. The Ti ate up my band saw blade really quick (a US made Lenox Diemaster, not a cheap blade). Tried my angle grinder with a thin cutting disc, and it didn't work that well. Hacksaw just gets laughed at.:confused:

What is the best way to cut titanium?? These liners are .079" thick. Was I just moving too fast on the band saw?
 
You might try going full speed on your bandsaw. If it's got a really fast speed for wood, even better.

The blade can be dull as hell and it will still go trough the titanium without any problems. It's called friction cutting and basically your melting your way trough. Sounds a little unbelievable at first but I've done it several times on my little wood bandsaw. Works like a charm.

Otherwise I'd suggest a hacksaw with a decent blade. Should work just fine and quite speedy.

Regards

Marcus
 
Titanium cuts best for me when I pay attention to the TPI of the blade. For the thickness you mentioned, I would be using an 18 or 24 TPI blade, running fairly slow on my dewalt saw.
 
Real slow Jonny, A fine hacksaw 32tpi and just take it slow, I have cut it on a band saw with the speed right down.

Nasty stuff to work with so dam tough, you will need cobalt drills also on a slow speed with quite a lot of down pressure.
I used to add the cost of two files to the price of knives made out of TI.

Richard
 
The Lenox Diemaster is a very good blade, but you need more teeth per inch. I use 24 TPI for cutting out Ti liners.
 
I use a friction saw blade because I still don't have a bandsaw, they cut it no problem.

I dulled (the teeth were worn smooth... gone) a new high end jigsaw blade on Ti just trying to cut it, the same blades will cut 1/4" steel without much difficulty.
 
I did the fiction thing years ago, with Ti and cuttin up 15N20. It works great, but what an unpleasant experience!

I'd much rather use a blandsaw running slow with the right blade. :)
 
Thanks everybody! I have to order some band saw blades anyway, so I think I'll throw in one or two with more TPI and try that. The friction cutting sounds interesting too though.
 
Contrary to the manual, I've found 12TPI with heavier pressure and as fast as my 4x6 will go cuts 1/8" nice. It absolutely flies through thinner stuff. However, it doesn't dull the blade, it eventually breaks the teeth off, but it works. I haven't cut nearly as much as Ed or Don, so I'm not trying to argue with them. However, I've found that 1.5 teeth per thickness of the Ti works better than the normal 2-3 teeth per thickness. We tried a Diemaster 2 144" blade on some 1/2" ti and it destroyed the blade. Not enough pressure to cut into the metal we determined. I cut it on my HF 4x6 with 12TPI in about 10 minutes.
 
Don Hanson III said:
I did the fiction thing years ago, with Ti and cuttin up 15N20. It works great, but what an unpleasant experience!

I'd much rather use a blandsaw running slow with the right blade. :)
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I hear you on that! It is smokey, sends sparks everywhere and is somewhat dangerous.

A decent metal cutting bandsaw is my next big investment.

jonnymac44 said:
Thanks everybody! I have to order some band saw blades anyway, so I think I'll throw in one or two with more TPI and try that. The friction cutting sounds interesting too though.
Click to expand...

Since you have a bandsaw I'd go with that but you can get the friction blades at any hardware store. They fit on a standard "skil saw" or circular saw. I had the saw for cutting up 2x4's and plywood but in a pinch it is ok. They are the same thing they use on angle grinders I think... never flex one or work without full body protection as they can explode at high speeds. Dang I need a band saw, lol.

Only cut in a very clean environment free of other metals as Ti really likes to catch everything on fire. I once had a spark light up a "wire" from drilling steel and that tiny piece of metal nearly caught my bench on fire, it burns very hot.
 
I run my old Grizzly 4x6 band saw at the fastest of the 3 speeds, for Ti and everything. I've found, too slow or too little TPI with thin stuff, especially Ti and you loss teeth. I hate cuttin with a blade that's missin teeth. I also hate the chatter and noise of cuttin thin stuff with a coarse blade. But that's just me. :)
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
I hear you on that! It is smokey, sends sparks everywhere and is somewhat dangerous.

A decent metal cutting bandsaw is my next big investment.



Since you have a bandsaw I'd go with that but you can get the friction blades at any hardware store. They fit on a standard "skil saw" or circular saw. I had the saw for cutting up 2x4's and plywood but in a pinch it is ok. They are the same thing they use on angle grinders I think... never flex one or work without full body protection as they can explode at high speeds. Dang I need a band saw, lol.

Only cut in a very clean environment free of other metals as Ti really likes to catch everything on fire. I once had a spark light up a "wire" from drilling steel and that tiny piece of metal nearly caught my bench on fire, it burns very hot.
Click to expand...

Different type of friction cuttin here. Years ago, I used a 14" wood band saw (high speed) with a friction blade, looked like a very fine wood cuttin band. The dang thing would still cut after the teeth were gone. It was fast, loud and dang near ruined the saw, after a lot of use. But I cut up a few hundred pounds of 15N20 and a good bit of Ti.
 
Don Hanson III said:
Different type of friction cuttin here. Years ago, I used a 14" wood band saw (high speed) with a friction blade, looked like a very fine wood cuttin band. The dang thing would still cut after the teeth were gone. It was fast, loud and dang near ruined the saw, after a lot of use. But I cut up a few hundred pounds of 15N20 and a good bit of Ti.
Click to expand...

I was just looking for a photo and realized that my term "friction saw" is just something I picked up from a friend who cuts up scrap metal, I forget what they are actually called.

I got a piece of railroad track that was cut with one so that is how I got the idea to use one. :D Lol I may need more precision equipment.
 
This isn't the best way but here is my Ti cutting setup.

023iwd.jpg
 
I did some friction cutting at Ken Onion's shop- it worked really well. As mentioned above, it's pretty gruff, though. I thought he was joking at first!
 
I have used both the high speed - about 3000 ft. per min. and the regular metal cutting band saws for Ti. Lately I'm on the slow speed machine since I need another blade for the fast one. I use an 18 teeth per in, blade on 40 and 50. It has been working well without chipping out the teeth. Frank
 
waterjet would be the best option and the fastest. with the cost of buying the bandsaw blades and the time spent cutting the material you can have it done a lot cheaper. any holes can be put in at the same time which would only take a few seconds compared to drilling the holes on a drill press. the cost would be cheaper the more you have cut (say 10-15 pieces or more).
 
Ok, after chatting for a while with Chuck at Alpha, who cuts way more than his fair share of titanium, I broke down and spent over $100 dollars on a gulleted, carbide coated Lenox band saw blade. It finally arrived today and I got to work cutting out the liner and ti slab for my current folder project. This things goes right through the Ti without any problem using the fastest of the three speeds on my old Dayton 4x6 bandsaw. Seems steep for one saw blade, but if it lasts as long as I'm lead to believe it will be a very good investment.:thumbup:

On second thought, maybe I'm having troubles getting that mill I want because I'm dropping $100 a pop on saw blades:D

I would recommend these blades, very cool.

CuttingTitanium001.jpg


CuttingTitanium003.jpg
 
Hey I think I would like to try one of those Johnny. Do you use them on all metals or just the titanium? Frank
 
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