Titanium

[macona]

Heres a pic of a small piece of titanium I was turning the other day. 3" dia 5" long. In my 8" 3jaw. About 300RPM heavy feed and .1" off the dia per pass.

Titanium actually machines rather easily. Main things are you run slow (Ti has horrible heat transfer) heavy feeds and dont stop. Stopping with the tool rubbing will instantly work harden the Ti.

Also the more rigid the machine the better.

 

[1Kenny]

What are you making with it?

Kenny

 

[wareagle]

I have to say that I have totally avoided titanium in my shop. Never had the nerve to try it. May have to now. Hmmm. Maybe I can make a titanium tap guide. :lol:

I machine stainless often, and don't have any issues with it. In fact, I kind of like working with it.

 

[macona]

I am making some jewelry for a friend. Titanium jewelry is really popular currently. And is very simple to anodize.

If you have the HP go for it. I picked up some rod off ebay last night.

 

[macona]

Thought I would show off a bit!

Here are a couple titanium rings I made this wee. Turned them on the EE and then engraved them on my CNC. Built the 4th axis last week from junk laying around. Made out of an old Compumotor OEM650 stepper driver, PacSci stepper, Bayside gearbox, motovario right angle box. Gives me 50000 steps per turn resolution.

Also made the engraving bit on the Tsugami tool grinder I got last month.

Couple weeks ago I built an anodizing power supply from more junk. Old isolation transformer I got from high school 15 years ago, Enclosure from an old robot power supply, old 4.5a variac from a welder. misc parts from the power supply. Used analog meter from a welder. Makes a 0-150v DC power supply.

I really like turning titanium. Really nice finish. Especially compared to this 1018 crud I have been trying to turn. Ugh!

 

[Powder keg]

Very nice work!!! I'm learning to run CNC's now. I have a mill that I'm buying parts for to turn it into a CNC. I should be starting on it around the first of the year.

 

[macona]

You really should consider looking for a broken down machine like a bridgeport boss or an old Tree CNC if you have the room.

I often see mills with bad controls go for anywhere between $600 to $1000. Thats less than the price of parts to convert a mill. And you already have ballscrews installed, motor mounts, motors, etc. Add some geckodrives to drive the motor and a PC with mach3 and you are good to go.

The thing is one you change a mill to ballscrews it makes it useless for manual use. The problem is ball screws will be back driven by the cutter. If you are taking a heavy cut the bit will grab in and pull the handle right out of you hand. From there who knows what else will happen.

 

[compound driver]

HI
Il second the ballscrew thing. I thought I was being clever when I replaced the lead screw on my mill with a ball screw. A bad case of not thinking before spending. I now have a true lead screw in there and a very pricey wall ornament thats three feet long!

For CNC ballscrews are fine for anything else stick with a screw.

Cheers Kevin