Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>From: Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net>: >>Well, someone who has been a machinist since 1964, and who has worked >>with titanium has told me that it has about the same machinability as >>steel, but is more difficult to weld, and the cost of titanium is about >>the same as alloyed steels. I am taking his word for it. > >Then explain why custom-made Ti fasteners are far more expensive than >Al or 4130 CrMo steel equivalents; why Ti ice pitons are often twice the >price of equivalent (same country of origin) steel ones; why a Ti bike >frame is nearly always more expensive than equivalent CrMo steel one; >why golf clubs with Ti heads are more expensive than similar ones with >steel heads; and why an M6 Ti or F3 HP Ti cost more than their non-Ti >equivalents. Hi - The key words are: "...about the same machinability.." and "...more difficult to weld." To that, should be added that that the costs of alloyed steel vary greatly, depending on the method used to produce and roll the product. Some of the more esoteric steels must be made in electrical furnaces, while others are made in the usual manner. It's my understanding (albiet from a few years back) that scrap Ti is more difficult to deal with than scrap alloy steels. Finally, one has to consider that the technicians must be trained to work with a metal whose stiffness, malleability and fracture points are different than alloy steels. Obviously, the "Titanium" cachet is a marketing device, and the weight differences are played up; however, there *are* manufacturing difficulties (both in production and machining) that make Ti more expensive than alloy steels. Just my two cents George George Berger gberger@his.com