Dont fear the Titanium

[Cavalry]

I have a few jobs to do that require titanium. I asked advice here as I had never worked with it before. I was expecting a tough job...I was in for a surprise.

I picked up some 6al-4v off ebay. I have a baby 10" lathe that is WWII vintage so I was a little worried about that. My insert selection is limited so I decided to just give the coated TCMT's I have a shot.
I plowed off into it with a fast feed as suggested. It cut beautiful with a good finish. I had some stringy chips that I am sure the correct insert would have taken care of. My coolant setup was a mess so I decided to give it a shot dry. That really was no problem at all! As long as I fed hard I could take pretty decent cuts for my machine without bogging at all.

So far it has been a very painless experience. If you can turn stainless then dont be afraid of titanium at all.

[pumpertruck]

Just don't get a fire started. Worse than magnesium.

[markct]

yea that was my first thought when i read his post! thats my big fear of titanium, had it catch fire once in the chip pan, basicly just let it burn out, fire extinguisher, co2 then dry chemical, didnt help much

[Cavalry]

I played with the chips a little, after I was done. It took quite a bit of O/A to get them going. IMO Mg puts out a hotter fire? good times regardless!

[precisionworks]

If you operations are external (OD turning, facing, threading, surface milling, etc.) air coolant, or even just an air pipe, will help. Internal ops (like drilling deep holes) are a bear - that's where liquid coolant shines. A machinist who turns Ti posted on the CPF forum, showing how he set up a liquid coolant system for his SB Heavy Ten. Says that drills that used to get so hot that they'd turn blue, now last & last with the liquid cool.

[Cavalry]

I have the coolant. My lathe was just never set up for such a thing. I plan on getting a better setup. should help tool life in general