Playing with Titanium

santos · May 10, 2008

Hi everybody,

I want to show you a practice plate Iâ€™ve just finished. This plate is a titanium alloy( I don't know exactly what) , itâ€™s the first time I try to engrave Ti, and this one is quite soft.
The model is the same that Iâ€™ve engraved in a kitchen knife a few weeks ago: An Utamaroâ€™s print , Iâ€™ve found in the Boston MFA website.

After the engraving, Iâ€™ve coloured the kimono by means of anodization. Titanium is very funny to anodize, in a few seconds you can obtain a colour depending on the value of voltage . In that example the kimono is anodized with 15V and the resulting colour is bronze. The fan on the silk of the kimono where coloured with a voltage of 24V.The background is a 30 volts blue.
My power supply doesnâ€™t exceed 30V , and the amperage for the anodization is less than 0,1 A.
More colours are obtained with higher voltages, but it would be dangerous to go above 50V.

The practice plate became a little pendant for a friend

I've engraved her name in the corner. It's approx. 3X5 cm

VoilÃ :

Thanks for looking

Regards

Jean

John B. · May 10, 2008

That's a wonderful little piece.
Thank you for sharing.

Dave London · May 10, 2008

Santos
Excellent job

Jack Davenport · May 10, 2008

Hi Santos: In my knifemaking experience I have found that the softer Ti is usually closer to what is called commercially pure, if you try 6alv or aircraft grade it is much harder and will take color almost as easily as cp, email me from my davenportknives.com and I will send you a sample of the aircraft grade to try.

monk · May 10, 2008

i find this quite beautiful to look at, much like your knife !

Ken Hurst · May 10, 2008

Simply outstanding workmanship Santos. Ken

Winstonklein · May 11, 2008

This is simply Awsome !!!

ddushane · May 11, 2008

I like it!!!!!!!!! Dwayne

Dmitry Martinov · May 11, 2008

very beautifull santos If you do not mind here is some questions:
1. what kind of titanium you were using to engrave? As I understand there is about 40 different titanium alloys (grades).
2. would you be so kind to give some more info about the process af anodizing and equipment.

Sam · May 11, 2008

Well done, Santos!

KCSteve · May 11, 2008

Well that's just double cool!
You get one for the engraving and the second for the anodizing.

Marcus Hunt · May 11, 2008

What a charming piece. Thanks for sharing it.

santos · May 11, 2008

Thank you

Thank you all for your nice comments. It’s not a great engraving but I like this one…

Dmitry , I don’t know the grade of this titanium alloy . It’s a small piece that a friend gives me. Its thickness is 2mm and it as a very rough aspect (look at the photo of the back of my plate) It was really hard to get a nice surface using sandpaper, but then it was really easy to cut with my carbide V graver 120Â° and 60Â° face. The cuts aren't very bright although my heel was very polished with a 3Âµ lap.

I’ll be very happy to explain you the process and the recipe of the electrolyte, but with my English, it will be easier to show you a few step by step photos.
I’ll engrave another practice plate , take some photos and post them soon.

The main tool for anodizing Ti, is the power supply, one like these you can find in electronics labs with variable voltage output (from 0 to 50V DC). The second very important tool is a wood toothpick that is soaked with the electrolyte. The tip of the toothpick acts as a pencil and working under the scope, you can anodize very small areas with a great precision. You don’t need to mask any area, and you don’t need any bath. Colouring this engraving takes less than 1/4 of hour.

Greetings

Jean

Dmitry Martinov · May 11, 2008

thanks for the info santos. waiting for tutorial of another practice plate.

santos · May 12, 2008

Here's the step by step I've promised :

1 The drawing is printed on a transparency with a laser printer in which I have disabled the furnace.
2 The transfer is done with 50%Damar varnish and 50% Isopropylic alcohol on the Ti plate
3 The plate is now engraved and shaded
4 A telephonic wire is wrapped around a toothpick , at 5 mm from the tip . A silicon pipe prevents the short-circuits between the wire and the plate.
5 The voltage of the power supply is then adjusted depending on the colour you want to paint , the spectrum is above . The positive lead is connected to the vise and the negative is connected to the toothpick.
6 The electrolyte recipe : 1 g of Ammonium sulphate diluted in 20 ml of water

santos · May 12, 2008

7 The electrode is soak with the electrolyte and then itâ€™s like a pen , the colour instantly appears
8 Hereâ€™s the plate finished; Itâ€™s a little massacre of a well known logo , and I beg your pardon for that . Next time Iâ€™ll try to follow the 4th commandment: â€œThou shalt never be in a rush which causes thy work to sufferâ€¦â€

KCSteve · May 12, 2008

Thanks for the step-by-step demo!

I had heard before how easy it is to annodize Titanium - you can do it with a wad of aluminum foil, a 9v battery and diet soda - but this is the first tutorial I've seen on doing a simple and controlled job of it.

monk · May 12, 2008

quite interesting. will this technique work with other metals ? or just titanium ?

Dmitry Martinov · May 13, 2008

thank you santos, very informative.
P.S. It's a lot of supplyers with different prices, sizes and minimum amount of purchasing. Where do you buy Ti in Europe?

Powderhorn · May 13, 2008

Monk;
If you want to you can also anodize Niobium. It is done the same as Santos says for the Ti, but you use TSP for the electrolyte.

Playing with Titanium

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