Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

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Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by 0101silent »

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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by rqlasl »

Silver solder needs a "gap" to flow into so a press fit might not be the way to go?..........Should be strong enough if done properly. I regularly use it to fasten copper to steel and it needs to be machined apart or heated up to separate. Interesting idea
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by john.t.little1 »

Titanium is not that hard to machine at all. Use inserts and coolant you'll be fine only hurdle I can see you having is the HF lathe.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Rich V »

Titanium is difficult to impossible to silver solder. I have read some publications that claim it can be soldered with special fluxes but nothing I could find commercially.
Welding is the only alternative to threading.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by john.t.little1 »

If anything I would do the baffles in Ti and tube/caps in SS after all just the tube being Ti the weight diffrence will be negligible... Again machining Ti isn't hard buy the correct inserts and tooling for the job.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by ChimeraPrecision »

You could interference fit the end cap to the tube and then cross drill and interference pins at assembly. Then turn the pin flush to the tube
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by airsix »

Take heart. You can thread Ti on your lathe.

Just this weekend I did my first threading. 303 end cap (final product) and Ti tube (test piece) done on my 7x14.

Threading the actual suppressor tube will require using the steady-rest, which I did have to modify so it can swallow 1.5" OD tube, but it wasn't too hard. Milled longer adjustment slots in the bronze fingers and it's GTG.

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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by CMV »

On the 7x12 you might run out of room. I don't think the HF mini lathes are correct in their descriptions for bed length or they measure differently from everyone else. The 7xX HF lathes aren't X between centers. more like X-2" or something. Could be wrong on that but the one I had was the 7x10 & you couldn't put a 10" piece of stock between centers on it.

Press fit, set screws, staking come to mind (I'm not saying these are good ideas, but could work). How much "spring" does Ti tube have? If the endcap were machined with a little hump then pressed in, would the tube conform to it or would that just swage the tube?

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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Elkins45 »

CMV wrote:On the 7x12 you might run out of room. I don't think the HF mini lathes are correct in their descriptions for bed length or they measure differently from everyone else. The 7xX HF lathes aren't X between centers. more like X-2" or something. Could be wrong on that but the one I had was the 7x10 & you couldn't put a 10" piece of stock between centers on it.

Press fit, set screws, staking come to mind (I'm not saying these are good ideas, but could work). How much "spring" does Ti tube have? If the endcap were machined with a little hump then pressed in, would the tube conform to it or would that just swage the tube?

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How about machining a little taper into the insert portion of the endcap so the the fattest part is farthest from the muzzle.? Then you could swage the end of the tube down to secure it--like the roll crimp on a revolver cartridge
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by john.t.little1 »

Y not just thread the tube. All these options are feasable but in the time it would take to do all that you could thread it. Just my $0.02
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Kuraki »

No reason not to thread. If you can thread stainless you can thread Ti.

Drilling Ti is a bitch. Single point turning and other free cutting operations are no problem.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by cal50 »

Cutting Ti with carbide tooling works well, using high speed steel cutting tools or band saw cutting it sucks rod. The heat likes to stay in the Ti, it's abrasive and generates heat.

I am working on my form 1 can (. 308) and just about finished with the baffles in grade 5 Ti. My tube is grade 9 and I was going to thread both ends but decided to press & weld one end and thread the other end for access.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Capt. Link. »

ChimeraPrecision wrote:You could interference fit the end cap to the tube and then cross drill and interference pins at assembly. Then turn the pin flush to the tube
A variation of this is the old school way of using screws.A button head screw can be attractive and will allow the removal of the end caps for cleaning.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Dr.K »

I have come to the conclusion that having carbide inserts is "necessary" for machining titanium is a myth.

I have had fantastic results with good sharp HSS homeade tooling on 6AL4V and grade 9 tube.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by CMV »

Dr.K wrote:I have come to the conclusion that having carbide inserts is "necessary" for machining titanium is a myth.

I have had fantastic results with good sharp HSS homeade tooling on 6AL4V and grade 9 tube.
Agreed, but the carbide goes a lot longer. I'm frequently taking HSS to the grinder - a lot more than I'm indexing inserts.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Capt. Link. »

Use T-15 HSS it will survive the heat.Much care is needed not to burn the edges when grinding.I use a low speed grinder and a water wheel is even better.I can't wait to see what Kyle has been working on.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Historian »

Capt. Link. wrote:Use T-15 HSS it will survive the heat.Much care is needed not to burn the edges when grinding.I use a low speed grinder and a water wheel is even better.I can't wait to see what Kyle has been working on.

+1! as usual.

An added item to consider is a diamond dust impregnated steel honing plate* or diamond
coated flat file. Under a loop you will amazed at how rounded the edge is after grinding.
But after a follow up stropping on a diamond plate the true sharpness is achieved.
Under the magnifier you will see the planes of the tool actually met in a line and can cut paper.

This is a part/metal saver for the forever-to-be novice limited to a small lathe .

In particular, when you are parting** having a razor's edge makes the difference
between snagging/breaking and a continuous smooth cut.

* E.g., << http://www.glangler.com/_blog/Great_Lak ... ve_Stones/ >>
** << https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SzzUIetg5w >>
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by CMV »

Capt. Link. wrote:...I can't wait to see what Kyle has been working on.
+1

Whatever it is it will be worth the wait I'm sure
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by Dr.K »

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence guys! My latest project involves seeing just how much food I can cram down my throat. Stuffed mushrooms, meatballs, boiled shrimp, garlic bread, egg nog....some stuff I don't even know what it is, but it taste so good! Merry Christmas everyone!

I've got a few silencer projects in the works. The most interesting involves a 20 gauge and carbon fiber.....Coming soon!

I started flying a paramotor this fall, and most of the other things I've been working on involves propeller balancing equipment, prop hubs and adapters, and other do dads. Also, some knife making, and camera mounts, and go kart rebuilds, Lots and lots of hog killing!
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by alterian »

I was really doubtful of a 7X14 being able to work on Ti. This really makes me recconsider my future purchase.
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Re: Can Titanium Tube be joined to Stainless Endcaps without threading?

Post by baba »

I have not tried to work Ti on it yet, but when I was in the market for a lathe I considered all versions of the 7x lathes, and ended up with the Lathemaster 8x lathe. When you consider what was included, it wasn't much more expensive than similarly equipping a 7x, and once I got it off the truck it was easy to see it is a lot more solid machine. Check them out.

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