Advice for cutting Titanium on bandsaw

O

oharal

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Jan 21, 2013
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Hi pros, rookie here. I'm working on a project to modify one of my knives and I'm wanting to make some titanium parts (backspacer, clip) for it. I have a piece of 1/4" 6Al-4V I need to cut. My bandsaw is a cheap portaband that I built a vertical bench stand for and has served me well cutting stainless around .155 thick and some carbon fiber about that thick. I cut a few feet of carbon fiber this weekend with a 24tpi bimetal blade and it cut just fine. Later when I tried to cut my 1/4" Ti, it just doesn't cut. It could well be that the blade is just dull from cutting the carbon fiber but I wanted to check with you guys who know better than I am that I'm not ill equipped to do this operation. Do I need less tpi? Do I need a carbide blade? Or will a new bimetal blade do fine you think? Also, Harbor Freight lists the saw will cut 0-230fpm would you guys say to cut at the fast end of that, slow end or in the middle? I realize that one may be a tricky question to answer. Thanks for any tips!

Luke
 
For 1/4" Ti you will want a new bi-metal blade with 10 to 14 TPI. Carbide might be nice but I imagine will be very expensive. Run between 50 and 70 FPM and don't let it get hot. Good luck; 1/4" is pretty thick, you're going to be there a while.

Bob
 
Thanks! I have had a hard time finding anywhere selling carbide blades for 44 7/8" portabands so a new bimetal blade will have to do I think. I'll pick some up this week and give it a shot. This whole build is proving to be a lot of work but it will be worth it soon!
 
Buy a good bi-metal blade with 14-18 teeth per inch (tpi) blade. Break in the blade before cutting titanium. We have separate blades for steel & titanium. I would keep a separate blade for carbon fiber also. Run your portaband at the lowest speed. I like about 60 feet per minute blade speed.

The finest carbide tooth blade I've bought is 4 tpi which is too coarse for .250" titanium.

Chuck
 
Alpha Knife Supply said:
Buy a good bi-metal blade with 14-18 teeth per inch (tpi) blade. Break in the blade before cutting titanium. We have separate blades for steel & titanium. I would keep a separate blade for carbon fiber also. Run your portaband at the lowest speed. I like about 60 feet per minute blade speed.

The finest carbide tooth blade I've bought is 4 tpi which is too coarse for .250" titanium.

Chuck
Click to expand...

How should I break in the blade? I didn't know this was a thing.

Side note: the carbon fiber I was cutting I got from AKS and it's good stuff! Very pleased.
 
I have cut titanium several times and I use bi metal blades but I tried using trip chip carbide band saw blade and it cuts even better.
 
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