I have been thinking about making some liners or scales out of titanium. Best as I can tell I would need to buy the thickness I wanted in sheet, and then cut it down to whatever size I need. How would I cut it to size? I don't have a bandsaw, so that is out of the question. Would a cut off wheel in an angle grinder work?
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cutting titanium
- Thread starter ErikD
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You can probably buy it in bar stock the width you need to save the amount of cutting you would have to do. Say the liners you're making are going to be 1 1/8", buy some 1 1/4" wide bars of ti the right thickness by what ever length you need. You might have to shop around for it or look on Ebay or even pay a cutting fee but I'm sure it's available some place. You can cut it with a cut off disc. That's how I cut the lock tabs on my liner locks but the ones I use are diamond discs. I bought a box of 60 of them from a gent on Ebay for $20 about a year ago and I'm still using the first one I took out of the box and I use .080 thick ti for my liners. I'm sure if you look on Ebay you can find something comparable. Just be super careful and wear a respirator and face shield. If you can't find something like that just draw the pattern onto the ti and use an 1/8" drill bit and drill a series of holes every 3/16" or so about 3/16" from the line and then cut thru the material that's left with a hack saw or just snap it off.
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Michael, What size are those cutoff wheels your using and what do they look like, size etc? This is the part that I always hate doing in reguards to splitting the liner lock. I started slotting my liners with small dremmel cut off wheels but the smell got to me. I switched to jewelers saws on the mill and drill press but only have marginal results with them, takes a long time to do. I have tried just about every type of hand coping/jewelers saw blades with no luck, blades always snap. So right now I am using HSS jewelers saws. 1 1/4" wide, .025 thick. They only last for about 1-2 liners before they wont cut good anymore. Just looking for better ways to do it. TIA
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I had a rough time with jewelers saw blades until I found Swiss Pike platinum blades. I use Hoppes Elite gun oil to lube the blade, seems to work better than anything else I've tried. I've cut numerous SAK scales and liners from grade 5 in .032", .063" and .125" sheet.
Liner lock cut for 111mm one handed trekker.
Small blade spacer in the horizontal vice I use to saw.
Scales and liners cut just to the right of the line and finished up with a belt sander and sanding spindles in my micro drill press.
2 piece SAK magnifier bezel in .063"
Liner lock cut for 111mm one handed trekker.
Small blade spacer in the horizontal vice I use to saw.
Scales and liners cut just to the right of the line and finished up with a belt sander and sanding spindles in my micro drill press.
2 piece SAK magnifier bezel in .063"
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Have you got more info on those jeweller saw blades, please? Frank
+1... i was wondering if i can use a jeweler's saw to cut .125 Ti so i can have more control cutting a lock bar relieve. I was told by a few makers it would not work. If you found a brand of saw blades that works? I need to get them
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http://www.ottofrei.com/store/home.php?cat=1140
These are for cutting platinum and they are hard and brittle. I've been driving a jewelers saw for 20 years and I still broke several dozen before I got it down. Go slow.
On the second page is the gross lot of # 2 blades. That's the coarsest they have and will work for .125" with a lot of patience. You want a gross because you'll break half of them figuring out the nuances. The #3 cuts 1/16" perfectly and #1 for .035".
A waterjet is still the way to go for .125" unless you just need 1 part because the jewelers saw goes so slow through 1/8".
These are for cutting platinum and they are hard and brittle. I've been driving a jewelers saw for 20 years and I still broke several dozen before I got it down. Go slow.
On the second page is the gross lot of # 2 blades. That's the coarsest they have and will work for .125" with a lot of patience. You want a gross because you'll break half of them figuring out the nuances. The #3 cuts 1/16" perfectly and #1 for .035".
A waterjet is still the way to go for .125" unless you just need 1 part because the jewelers saw goes so slow through 1/8".
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Thanks ! Frank
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You're onto something. The more gently you do it the faster it goes. The actual sawing goes slower but the time saved changing broken blades more than makes up for it. Maybe someday I'll be able to do it while holding the blade with a pair of chopsticks.