Tapping Titanium for Folders

S

SLC_Blades

Joined
Aug 20, 2018
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65
Hey everyone, I’m starting to formulate a plan for making my first frame lock and I need some help. I plan to use titanium as the handle material because of its spring qualities for the lock bar and I’ve heard that tapping titanium is a nightmare. I just bought a pheer 2 x 72 so I don’t have the funds to throw around for a tapmatic. Any other way?

Also, when tapping holes for the backspacer, do you tap both sides of the handle and the backspacer all at once and go all the way through, or do you tap partially into one side and then partially into the other? Thanks!
 
Hi SLC,
Use thread forming taps and it will be easier.
To your other question, make through holes on the left hand liner and backspacer and countersink the liner for flat head screws. On the other liner, with the lock, thread those holes for the back spacer.
Hope this helps.
 
I haven’t tapped Ti thicker than about .060/.070 and done it for 2-56 screws. I have done them all by hand with a tapping fixture I bought that holds the tap perpendicular to the material. The first taps I had were thread forming taps. They worked, but were definitely “tight” when tapping. Kuraki put me onto some thread cutting taps and I just recently gave one of them a try, again with 2-56 screws. It was a lot easier going through the Ti with the cutting tap than the forming tap. Perhaps some of that would’ve been different with a slightly bigger drill bit prior to using the thread forming tap. Either way, a little tap magic and away you go.

I agree with the above comment on what to tap. I only tap the lock side liner and drill clearance holes in the other liner and back spacer. Then counter sink for the flat head screws.


Jeremy
 
View attachment 986575 View attachment 986577 Or you could use pretapped stand offs or T-nuts. The upper knife in the picture has #2X56TPI internally threaded T-nuts. The lower knife in the picture has #2X56TPI internally threaded stand offs. The only tapped holes in the Titanium are for the pocket clips (#2X56TPI and #0X80TPI).
 
Yeah I was going to suggest maybe using a female and male screw like the Chris Reeve or most knives pivots?

Titanium threads can be prone to stripping out anyway so when I’m buying a knife I prefer not to see the screws threading directly into the titanium.
 
I haven’t done this myself, but a certain maker on Facebook uses brake cleaner for lube and says it works great. It’s a certain type. I’ll try to find it and post it here.
 
You can make a T-nut by using Red Loctite on one screw on one side of the threaded barrel. If the screw head is too large, you can spin grind it to size by chucking it up in portable hand drill. You will still need 2 tools to take the thing apart, but only one screw will be removeable.
 
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