Calling all titanium welders

[lorenzo]

In my quest for weight reduction I bought a titanium system off a gsxr 1000 for my srad. I decided, in this same weight loss drive, to remove the butterfly out of the link pipe, along with all the gubbins that controls it. As removal involved a dremel, refitment is not an option. Anyway, I planned on sticking an m10 bolt in the hole that the spindle for the valve left behind. The problem is that the spindle ran in a bush made entirely of something really fucking tough. I'm not sure if it's ceramic or more titanium, but there's one thing I'm in no doubt about: it's way tougher than fairly old taps I'm using to try and cut a thread. So, my next plan is to see if somebody could simply chop the whole bit off and weld a little patch over the side of it, right onto the linkpipe itself. There's a few little brackets that could do with being removed too, just for the sake of neatness as much as anything so if you've a grinder then great, if not, I'll do it. So, who's got the skills and the kit to weld titanium and who wants to earn themselves a couple of quid? Answers on a postcard marked "Bollocks, this was supposed to be a straight bolt on job" to the usual address...

[Superdunc]

If you do find someone to do this Loz, give me a shout, I have a little Titanium welding job that i need jobbing.

[eddie]

Possibly, but not back to work until tuesday

[lorenzo]

Tuesday's just fine, I'm in no hurry at all.

[Mark/Foggy]

May know of a man in the West County that may be able to touch Mag alloys as well if anybody is in deep need. Ex - Talon. pm's only pls.

Pls see following post for fuckwitted nessy monsterness!

[Mark/Foggy]

May have a man in the West County who may be able to touch Mag alloys as well if anybody gets desperate. Ex - Spondon, pm's only pls.

[lorenzo]

Wow, he changed former employers in a matter of minutes!

[Mark/Foggy]

Wow, he changed former employers in a matter of minutes!

[eddie]

Sorry to f*ck you about, but been informed we/I can't weld titanium at work

Sorry did my best (which was a waste of time)

Paul

[lorenzo]

No probs, thanks for asking for me though. As it happens I might have found somebody sorta local, I'm going to see him tomorrow. He sounds like a nice guy and his rough estimate was good so keep your fingers crossed.

[Martinh]

Sorry lorenzo this is of no real help to you, more of an open question. i thought that welding titanium was basically the same as welding stainless? I'm probably being an idiot but all the books i have on welding only really make passing comments about titanium in more or less the same breath as stainless. I cant be bothered to go and hunt out a melting point for it just wondering what was so special about titanium?

good luck all the same

martin

[lorenzo]

Well, I've found a guy who's helping me out. I dropped it off last week and it should be ready for this week with a bit of luck. I'll let you know how I get on, but the the stuff he showed me that he'd done on off-road bikes looked really well done, he's clearly a decent welder, now let's see about his promptness etc. From the chat I was having with him there seems to be 2 crucial differences to welding stainless: Firstly the rods have to be titanium, which rules out many places as they simply don't have them in stock. The cost of buying titanium rods when you can only really buy in bulk means that many small firms simply won't do one off jobs if they're not going to do another titanium peice for the next 12 months etc. The next difference is that the amount of argon used is much higher. If you're welding stainless then you can simply rely on the gas from the gun. Titanium needs to be in a whole area flooded with gas. On the pipe he's welding for me, he's going to have to roughly block the ends off and fill the area with gas. He was talking about the reasons why a fairly simple job like mine costs what it does (He's quoted me about £40, which I think sounds pretty reasonable for a boss being removed and welded over, then a 40x90mm bracket being attached and a couple of other brackets being removed), he said the biggest cost involved in doing it was the cost of the argon that's being used, while a similar job in stainless would use perhaps 10% of the amount of gas. Without the gas the titanium goes very brittle, like clay. I found it rather interesting, although it's of no use to me really, I don't even have a cheapo welder or anything at home.

[fran9r]

Well, I've found a guy who's helping me out. I dropped it off last week and it should be ready for this week with a bit of luck. I'll let you know how I get on, but the the stuff he showed me that he'd done on off-road bikes looked really well done, he's clearly a decent welder, now let's see about his promptness etc. From the chat I was having with him there seems to be 2 crucial differences to welding stainless: Firstly the rods have to be titanium, which rules out many places as they simply don't have them in stock. The cost of buying titanium rods when you can only really buy in bulk means that many small firms simply won't do one off jobs if they're not going to do another titanium peice for the next 12 months etc. The next difference is that the amount of argon used is much higher. If you're welding stainless then you can simply rely on the gas from the gun. Titanium needs to be in a whole area flooded with gas. On the pipe he's welding for me, he's going to have to roughly block the ends off and fill the area with gas. He was talking about the reasons why a fairly simple job like mine costs what it does (He's quoted me about £40, which I think sounds pretty reasonable for a boss being removed and welded over, then a 40x90mm bracket being attached and a couple of other brackets being removed), he said the biggest cost involved in doing it was the cost of the argon that's being used, while a similar job in stainless would use perhaps 10% of the amount of gas. Without the gas the titanium goes very brittle, like clay. I found it rather interesting, although it's of no use to me really, I don't even have a cheapo welder or anything at home.

He knows his stuff, thats exactly right. Except you can use a thin piece of the material as the rod, but still. Purging with argon is essential.

[lorenzo]

Photos tomorrow, but I've got the link pipe back, cost me £40 and and it's superb, it really is. Assorted bracketry has been removed, a boss welded up and another plain plate welded on so I can drill out my own hole to fasten it to the frame. The welded up boss on one side I had to look at a couple of times to suss out which one he'd done and which was the side that's blanked off from the factory. I'm really really impressed with both his work, and the feller himself. He was on holiday last week so he didn't touch it until this week, he said it'd be done by friday, last night he texted me a photo of this gleaming bit of pipework saying it was ready. He's a charming feller, prompt, top quality fabrication and a very good price too. I really can't speak highly enough about him. Until next week when it all cracks or something...