Titanium Stock Cutting and Milling for Hammock Parts

**hodad** · 04-09-2012, 12:02

Just ordered Titanium Grade 2, ¼” X 13 ¾” X 13 ¾” ($39 total) from ebay and could use some advise in milling for buckles and clips for our hammocks.

**Strung out** · 04-09-2012, 12:34

Grade 2 is a poor choice for most structural applications.

If you overbuild them and test them carefully you should be ok.

Most (Dutch) products made from titanium sheet material are waterjet cut.

**nothermark** · 04-09-2012, 14:46

The more I think about this the more inclined I am to point out that if you have to ask that kind of question you probably do not understand the material well enough to design load bearing parts that could cause bodily harm if they fail. You might want to think this through.

**Shnick** · 04-09-2012, 15:06

Unless you're set up for running water-cooled CNC milling, I'd invest in a lot... I mean a LOT of end mills. Kennametal makes a nice series. A lot of folks will tend to lean towards carbide inserts, but the newer grades of high-speed steel cutting bits coated in titanium aluminim nitride (TiAIN) can do the same job cheaper. Carbide (when cutting Ti) don't wear so much while cutting, but they do tend to chip. Too many chips and you're done.

When milling, watch your RPMs and feed rate for the sake of your tooling and more importantly, fire hazard. Titanium has a low heat transfer rate and has been known to combust under the cutterhead. Have a fire extinguisher handy. Make sure it's a Class "D" for combustable metals. Keep it within 5 feet of your milling machine. Practice using it.

I speak from bad experience. Very bad.

Heat treat after milling. Several batches at different temps and cook times.
Perform a series of batch endurance/failure point tests.

Or, buy Dutchware...

Shnick

**Dblcorona** · 04-09-2012, 15:17

To echo Strung Out, grade 2 is considered a moderate strength titanium. I would be leary about using it for hammock suspension parts. For tarp or some kind of clip it would work fine.