Cutting titanium

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faceplant
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Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:45 pm

Cutting titanium

Post by faceplant »

Ive been building the latest re encarnation of pingu (previously muchalucha on this forum). And I decided to go with fancy pants materials this time, In a hope that I might for once have a vaguely competitive antweight. I Ordered some 0.5 mm titanium off ebay, and its arrived, but I cant seem to cut it.

I have a dremel 300, and when Ive tried with that it seems to just make the cutoff wheels glow red at the edge, send sparks everywhere and eventually asplode. The titanium however fairs much better, having maybe 4-5 mm of cutting between disks. The cut it makes is also extremely messy. Surely there must be a better way of cutting titanium? How do you guys do it ?
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peterwaller
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Re: Cutting titanium

Post by peterwaller »

I use a guillotine or hacksaw for most cutting (up to 1mm thick) and tidy it up on the grinder.
EpicentrE
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Re: Cutting titanium

Post by EpicentrE »

You can also use tin snips for thin stuff - they cut the .3mm stuff I used to have very easily, so I imagine they'd work on .5mm with a bit of force.
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faceplant
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Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:45 pm

Re: Cutting titanium

Post by faceplant »

Im not sure I have a hacksaw small enough for this sort of thing, but i think I might have some tin snips, Ill give those a go. Thanks for the suggestions :)
faceplant
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Re: Cutting titanium

Post by faceplant »

The tin snips do the job but the edges cet curled up quite badly, and its relaly hard to get a nice edge on it again. I might have to invest in a smaller hacksaw, or try with the big one. :evil:
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earthwormjim
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Re: Cutting titanium

Post by earthwormjim »

I use kitchen scissors! on.5mm Ti.
They do curl the material after 40mm or so,but they are very accurate,much more so than snips.
I have snapped the handles off 2 pairs so far!!!
It is a little hard to start off,but once you are going,its quite smooth,get strong fingers too!!! :)
I like the guillotine idea Peter! I might have 2 get me one of those!!
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