+++TITANIUM+++

Places to spend cash or learn things!

Moderators: BeligerAnt, petec, administrator

alasdair
Posts: 563
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:52 pm
Location: Marlow, Bucks

+++TITANIUM+++

Post by alasdair »

Does anyone know where to buy ti cheap or does anyone have any that they can sell me? :D

thanks in advance!
User avatar
joey_picus
Posts: 1137
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:51 pm
Location: Lancaster, Lancashire
Contact:

Post by joey_picus »

eBay's usually your best bet :P it's a bit hit and miss as sometimes you can find good deals on there, other times there's nothing to be found - the only results I find for 'titanium sheet' that are really feasible atm are for 0.5mm thick 50mm square sheets, but keep checking back.

Sorry that that's not of much use, heh.
Joey McConnell-Farber - Team Picus Telerobotics - http://picus.org.uk/ - @joey_picus
"These dreams go on when I close my eyes...every second of the night, I live another life"
leo-rcc
Posts: 469
Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:44 am
Location: Hoogvliet, The Netherlands
Contact:

Post by leo-rcc »

http://www.titaniumjoe.com/

But you'd need someone in the US or Canada to buy it for you, unless it is more than 200 USD worth.

You could check with some US based roboteers if one of them is willing to buy a sheet for you.
Best regards,

Leo van Miert.
Dutchrobotgames
Team RCC website
User avatar
peterwaller
Posts: 3213
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2002 12:00 am
Location: Aylesbury Bucks
Contact:

Post by peterwaller »

Here is a small piece 99mm x 296mm x 1mm on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-4-Titanium-shee ... 439fbb2c5a
widow_twanky
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:24 pm

Post by widow_twanky »

peterwaller wrote:Here is a small piece 99mm x 296mm x 1mm on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-4-Titanium-shee ... 439fbb2c5a
Bear in mind that you wont be abele to bend grade 5 ti. If you want to bend it then you'll need grade 1 or 2
User avatar
peterwaller
Posts: 3213
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2002 12:00 am
Location: Aylesbury Bucks
Contact:

Post by peterwaller »

Thats interesting and something I have been meaning to read up on. I have bought various bits of Titanium and have been suprised just how differently they behave. I have some 0.5mm 99% pure titanium from Slovakia which is very easy to bend and a bit on the soft side when you come up against a spinner. I also have some very much harder 1mm which I thought was described as grade 5 aerospace grade which has proved a challange to bend. If I bend it with around a sharp former you can feel it go sort of crystaline and crunchy and it breaks. If I bend it around about a 2-3mm radius it seems to bend OK if you have enough strength but this is normally for scoops and is only a matter of say 40 degree bend. I have some 0.12mm thick foil which is a much shinier titanium alloy and this bends well. I have also just got some 0.05mm 99% pure titanium which certainly bends with your fingers.
So when you say you can't bend grade 5 titanium do you mean that or is it just very difficult. It may be the stuff I have is not actually grade 5 it was a couple of years ago when I bought it on ebay and it is not labled in any way. Also does heating help and if so what sort of temperatures are we talking about.
razerdave
Posts: 1562
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:40 pm
Location: Carterton, Oxfordshire
Contact:

Post by razerdave »

Grade 5 can be bent, its just an absolute sod to :P

I bought a sheet of grade 5 1mm thick ti from eBay, and it got used to make the flipper on Terrior, but that has a very gradual bend in it to fit the form of the robot, bending it to beyond 45 degrees would likely make it snap unless you can form it over a sizeable radius
widow_twanky
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:24 pm

Post by widow_twanky »

razerdave wrote:Grade 5 can be bent, its just an absolute sod to :P

I bought a sheet of grade 5 1mm thick ti from eBay, and it got used to make the flipper on Terrior, but that has a very gradual bend in it to fit the form of the robot, bending it to beyond 45 degrees would likely make it snap unless you can form it over a sizeable radius
If you're talking bending as in stick the bending dies in the vice and then get a straight and accurate bend in it you can forget it with grade 5. As Dave says you can 'form' it to a degree but not much more. That is however the same with most materials and the thinner the material and the wider the span the better you can form it.

Yes the grade 5 will go chrystaline and break if you over stress it on the bend

grade 5 i have is 1.2mm which you can't bend to any reasonable degree. Thor can bend 3mm ti :-?

Grade 1 and 2 you can get an accurate bend in without any special measures making it much easier to work with and more likely to give positive results.

Ti is a funny material. I have been told frequently that welding ti leaves a very weak joint. That said Hydra's feet are welded ti and haven't even come close to being damaged.

As usual, if it works then fine but you will be ok if you use grade 1/2 for bendy ti.

I have some thinner ti in the shed (not for sale) which is bent in half. It's about 0.25-0.5mm and bent in half so I'll have a check what grade it is. It may well be that the thinner grade 5 stuff can bend.

Andy
widow_twanky
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:24 pm

Post by widow_twanky »

peterwaller wrote:Also does heating help and if so what sort of temperatures are we talking about.
Never tried it because i have always been told it hardens the material so never bothered.

Using cobalt drills is also a good idea

andy
User avatar
nyditch
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 4:03 am
Location: California, USA

Post by nyditch »

I've done some serious Ti bending with heat. Guidelines for bending with heat:

- Create the bend wit ha large radius
- Heat the Ti until it gets only faintly red. Very bright red or orange is bad and will create a weak spot.
- Let it air cool. Quenching it makes it hard and brittle.

With a bench vise, pliers, and a blow torch it is fairly easy to do. Here's the piece I did, it was about 2mm thick, middle right in the picture.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v215/ ... C_4792.jpg
Team Misfit, California, USA
One of those crazy Americans.
Post Reply