This is what Ive been doing the last few weeks

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Helping around the shop...so he can have the free time to machine this stuff and giving him a hand here and there. The gear boxes (built from scratch, gears, shafts, drive lines etc... everthing) are built in his shop. The press will be run by a 125 hp motor.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child, miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats." PJ O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner Asch
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Looks nice, how many hamburger patties can it stamp out per stroke? Inquiring minds want to know what that machine does seeing as how you didn't mention its function. Did i miss it?

Best Regards Tom.

Reply to
Howard Beal

Looks very impressive! i

Reply to
Ignoramus11791

Last I knew, hot working of titanium could not be done in air because of the tendency of titanium to become hydrogen embrittled due to its tendency to "suck up" any available hydrogen. The problem gets worse the thinner the sections get because of the change in the volume to area ratio. Will this rolling mill operate in a inert atmosphere or open air?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

They hot-roll titanium at around 1400 deg. F, in air. As the material is rolled thinner, they keep reducing the temperature to avoid surface contamination from oxides.

Basically, it's not much different from rolling steel.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Many years ago I read of plans to build an entire forging factory for titanium with an argon atmosphere, with the people in pressurized bunny suits so they could get their oxygen.

I later read that the plans were shelved, most likely because of a downturn in the relevant market (which I assume to be aerospace).

Did anything of the like ever get built?

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joe Gwinn

I don't know. One thing many people don't realize is that different titanium alloys, like different aluminum alloys, have vastly different reactions to oxygen. Some exotics are easily corroded. Most aerospace alloys are not, or the wings would corrode off of Mach 2.5+ aircraft.

Commodity grades of titanium, like the ones that Gunner's client probably is rolling, are fairly oxidation-resistant. I'd have to look at alloy properties to see which ones.

A difficulty with titanium is protecting in while it's being welded. Some of the early titanium aircraft skins were welded with electron beams in a vacuum. But at lower temperatures, corrosion was not a problem.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

This would be embarrassing.

Seeing that video on blacksmith forging of a titanium knife (URL below; provided by Jim Wilkins) made me wonder if one can TIG weld titanium.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joe Gwinn

Here ya go :

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Reply to
Terry Coombs

Yes, until the applications become extremely demanding. Here's a good rundown from Miller:

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Reply to
Ed Huntress

Just before I retired from the Air force I certified welding titanium and at that time the A.F. certification was done in an inert atmosphere box but some time later a good friend who had gone to work at an A.F. depot that supported the C-5 fleet and told me that they commonly welded titanium with just shielding gas, front and back.

He also said that you can cut titanium perfectly well with an acetylene cutting torch :-)

Reply to
John B. Slocomb

Hmm. It sounds a lot like welding stainless steel, but requiring far more attention to prevention of contamination.

Thanks to all who responded.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joe Gwinn

I got my short sample of Ti rod from a custom knife maker. He didn't remember the alloy but said "that's it" when I suggested TiAl6V4. He told me it's easy to forge but doesn't hold an edge well.

-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Yeah. Way too gummy. Even 440C stainless is better.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joe Gwinn

Titanium isn't hard like a diamond - it is strong and flexible like Nylon. It can be cut with common tools, just don't do it with dull ones - it will give and not cut.

Martin

Reply to
Martin Eastburn

What happens is that it work hardens very, very quickly. Then you need carbide tools :-)

Reply to
John B. Slocomb

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