Cutting titanium with HSS?

I was recently doing some Ti on my cnc lathe.
Turning, knurling and internal threading. Running the same program I had written and used with Alu, brass,& bronze.

Drilling and threading were the most difficult. First thing I did was buy a carbide drill. Big mistake as it was so brittle it shattered.
Drilling for a 5/16 thread. My drill speed probably was off, but I went with a normal drill with carbide inserts (non replaceable) and all has been great.

Slower sfpm for all opps and a Ti specific tap also helped.

Years ago i made a wedding ring on my manual lathe and had no problem doing it with all hss tooling.
 
WarrenP said:
Thanks for the responses. Since it is only a ring , not very big, I thought I would give hss a try and if any problems get a carbide tool unless someone feels that would be useless to try. Thanks again.
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Not only would it be difficult to machine, but HSS contains Cobalt, which is poisonous. Not that much cobalt, and not too available, but it will be worn for long periods, I assume. There is a reason why jewelry is commonly made from soft metals Is there a reason for making it difficult to form into a ring?
 
Bob Korves said:
Not only would it be difficult to machine, but HSS contains Cobalt, which is poisonous. Not that much cobalt, and not too available, but it will be worn for long periods, I assume. There is a reason why jewelry is commonly made from soft metals Is there a reason for making it difficult to form into a ring?
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I meant useing a hss tool bit to cut the titanium.. I see a few videos on you tube of people making rings from titanium, one is a wedding ring as rgray mentions...they look nice. For example
 
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Bob Korves said:
Not only would it be difficult to machine, but HSS contains Cobalt, which is poisonous. Not that much cobalt, and not too available, but it will be worn for long periods, I assume. There is a reason why jewelry is commonly made from soft metals Is there a reason for making it difficult to form into a ring?
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I believe he means HSS for the tooling to make a Ti ring.

Titanium is a marketing buzzword that makes consumers quiver with joy.
The average consumer upon seeing the words Made From Titanium assumes that the product is high end and has properties that other materials lack.

Sintered carbide has become a choice for jewelry material it appears.

Titanium is neither rare nor particularly expensive when compared to precious metals such a gold and platinum, it does however have certain properties that are much valued in industry.

I had a customer that I did 100's of parts per month for ask me if I "CNC'd" them, I told them no.
They asked "why not?" and if I could do so in order that they may claim that their product was "CNC Machined" in their sales literature.
I had to explain that the single operation that I did would not be any faster nor more accurate but would cost more, this they declined of course.
 
No problem using hss. Just pay lots of respect to the material or it will bite you. Treat it like stainless as stated. No dwell, no baby cuts, lots of rake and keeness and as soon as your tool starts to show any sign of wear grind it.
 
P. Waller said:
Titanium is neither rare nor particularly expensive when compared to precious metals such a gold and platinum, it does however have certain properties that are much valued in industry.
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I think I learned : It's not that the Ti is expensive .. It's the tooling it eats making it an expensive end product.
 
I made a wedding ri g from titanium. Used hss, had to keep sharpening it over and over but it worked.
 
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