The other day I finished a plate in SUS304-HL, but it’s surprisingly heavy.
Over New Year’s I thought long and hard about it and decided to make it in titanium instead.
When you say titanium, there are apparently many varieties.
Setting aside Young’s modulus and tensile strength for now, the important question is whether it’s even available.
And then, factoring in price, I worked backward to select the material.
While not the same thickness, Ti6AL-4V and grade 2 titanium have roughly a sixfold price difference. I was honestly quite shocked! You can’t just use it casually at the shop.
Since I’ve never used this material before, I have no idea what it’s like. I compared various Young’s moduli and tensile strengths, and figured it should be at least 52 times stronger than aluminum.
But after thinking it over, I realized the part I’m making isn’t a structural component, so I don’t need to worry that much about it. Though I’ll treat it as a learning opportunity for the future.
If shielding were required, I would have considered it, but titanium can be spot welded. That’s a huge help for fabrication.
Since I’ve been using spot welding frequently lately, I’ve pretty much got the settings down for various thicknesses.
TIG welding would take an enormous amount of time, and with sheet metal, if you don’t get clean straight lines, it won’t look good. Sheet metal warps quite a bit when it’s thin, so spot welding is really convenient, I think.
I’ve got all the dimensions from the other day, so I’ll just shear it bang-bang.
I did the prep work and that’s where we’re stopping for today.
Work’s been tough since the start of the year—sorry for the lack of material and time.
