Cutting Titanium -w- XCarve

Projects
24

For steel i used a doc of .03 and 3ipm with a .125 4 flute endmill and i should have went .001 but it was a first try on thick steel setting of 4 on the dewalt.

26

Thanks for that, that would have slipped past me. Good tip

27

I really need to find my MAK1, it breaks steel banding, pulls nails, saved my butt a few times.

28

Molon Labe

1 Like
29

Wow, you are pretty brave to attempt this. Very cool, and great result!

I live near them too! Are you in Elmhurst? Its so nice having them close for Will Call, or if I need something in the middle of the week they ship to my door in 1 day.

30

Yes, Iā€™m in Elmhurst. I always do will call pickups, I have no patience for shipping when Iā€™m feeling creative. Once I place an order over the phone, Iā€™ve got my material within an hour. Love those guys.

1 Like
31

In keeping with the titanium thread, Chris Bathgate, metal sculptor documents his first experiments with titanium here. This dude is an amazing artist and metal worker. I had no idea titanium could burst into flames while being machined:

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e71ac36d7afe2c36c5c3ce0b9&id=a82a85f560&e=74586ff00b

32

Yes, Titanium dust is ā€œFlammableā€. Youā€™ll notice on Side 1 of my Titanium piece above, in the upper right corner youā€™ll see some blue spots. Those spots were caused from not cleaning a few dust particles off the piece before hitting the Titanium with a torch. The dust caught fire and jumped and landed in those spots.

33

I love that guy, he makes such great stuff.

@DV1 What bit(s) did you use to cut that out? Have you done much research in titanium cutting? # flutes, coating, etc? Iā€™ll probably try my hand at Ti soon, its just such an interesting material!

34

I would be nervous cutting titanium on my x-carve. The chance of a fire is pretty good if your rpm is too high and the bit is rubbing. Once you get titanium burning itā€™s not easy to extinguish. Flood coolant is pretty standard procedure for cutting titanium.

35

Sorry for the delay. I used a two fluted 1mm HSS flat end mill (No Coatings). Iā€™m a machinist by trade, so Iā€™m fortunate and unfortunate enough to work with titanium on a pretty regular basis. Titanium is loved and hated by machinists (All in the same day).

36

Yes, that is always a possibility. I wouldnā€™t recommend leaving the mill unattended.