Saw Blades for Titanium?

[Tira]

Hello! I know a couple of the members regularly work with titanium. I was trying to saw out a piece of titanium to engrave yesterday with my regular jewelers saw blades and that didn't go so well. I finally got the piece cut, but are there any special saw blades to use that will be more effective on titanium? I hope to do more of this in the future, but the amount of time it has taken me to saw and file is crazy. It was 6AL4V titanium if that helps. Thanks!

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Tira, I saw a lot in Titanium, but sure you have to replace the blade some more than when you saw gold or silver.
I use the Swiss size blades 4/0 and 6/0 from A&F "Gold Shark"
I think they are the best.
Also important is to put some what I call "soap" on the blade as then it cuts better. You can also use some grease that is used for wire tapping.

The saw blade will "burn" if you don't use anything to cool it.

Another thing is important that you use the right Titanium. There are Titanium from grade 1 to grade 6 which is the hardest. And sure you don't want to work with grade 6.

Hope this helps, arnaud

 

[Tira]

Thanks Arnaud, I tried a 5/0 and a 3/0 blade(s). They seemed to dull almost instantly. I kept at it and finally got it cut, but it was miserable. What type of titanium do you use? Do you have a supplier for it? This particular alloy is a scrap from a manufacturing process and doesn't cut too well even with a graver. Thanks for your help. TIRA

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

So as I said Tira, use grade 1 or grade 2, all the others are to hard but perhaps fine to make a knife blade of it.
Grade 1 is also the purest.

arnaud

 

[Kevin P.]

Tira, 'Reactive Metals' deals with titanium. I don't use Ti but you may find something useful from them.
Sorry I have no details.
Kevin P.

 

[Andy]

Tira,
Commercially Pure or CP Titanium is very well suited for engraving and jewelry applications. It is the softest and easiest to work with. I bought some by accident a number of years ago. I found it does not work well for most knife applications though. I should relist it on Ebay where I found it but I am too lazy:beat up:

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Tira, I buy my Titanium from a Dutch company "Telmastaal" as that is the nearest from where I live.
Perhaps they send it overseas. Here is the link

http://www.telmastaal.nl/?action=showprods&toepassing_id=13

 

[JIA]

Diamond saw Blade

http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea...nt&category|cat_120|340=Saw+Blades+and+Frames

you can try this but i dont know if they will work for what you are doing.

and there is another blade you can look on the website

 

[canadian]

Tira,

I am with Arnaud. I use bees wax to lubricate the blade every so often as I cut. Oil of Wintergreen also works well although it is harder to dip into it.
Hope this helps.

Boris

 

[Mario Sarto]

Hello Tira,
the 6AL4V Titanium (have a look here) you used is what we call CP-Grade 5 (ASTM), the tensile strength of it averages 1150 MPa
It's the most popular Titanium-alloy for technical use, but to engrave it...
I am with Arnaud - Grade 1 or 2 (not an alloy) would be much better. If you saw into it, you have to do it slower than in e.g. steel (30 percent slower). What Arnaud said, it goes very hot quickly and you have to cool it - ethyl alcohol would be good, but it smells. A good cooling fluid is a 5 to 10 percent dissolution water soluble oil.
HTH, Mario.

 

[John Cole]

Tira,
I use the Laser Gold brand of blades from rio grande. I haven't worked with titanium, but I have cut steel up to 14ga. with them.
When cutting through thicker metals I tend to use beeswax on the blades. You can pick up a small round of it from your local hobby store in the sewing notions department. Every three or four cuts, I do a quick run of wax on the blade.
Lastly, how old are the current blades that you are using. I've gotten ahold of blades that have been sitting on my bench for quite a while (couple of years) and found that they dull a lot quicker and are more prone to breakage than when they where first ordered.

hope this helps
John C.