braddsn Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Hey guys, quick question about Titanium and trailing sparks... what size (mesh) do you use for the most prominent and long lasting trailing sparks?? Sponge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superstring Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 (edited) Sponge is good, in fact it's king! Particle size, now there's a question. It depends on what you're making, so just keep in mind, the relative size of the object. If it's small, use small particle size, the larger device the larger the particle size. Hence a 1" comet, I would probably choose somewhere arounf 50-100 mesh sponge. Certain steps may need to be taken to prevent tooling from galling while pressing with Ti. Edited October 29, 2014 by superstring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ubehage Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Certain steps may need to be taken to prevent tooling from galling while pressing with Ti.Can you clarify this a bit for noobs like me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddewees Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 He means titanium can get stuck in between rams and sleeves causing all kinds of damage to your tooling. Often people will add a small portion of comp on top that doesn't contain any metals, before pressing, to prevent this though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braddsn Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 I just ruined a nice aluminum 3/4" comet pump... I tried to press some comp with titanium. All I can say is, DON'T do it. I tried for a half hour to clean the pump out, to no avail. Those tiny titanium chips gouged the $hit outta my pump. Threw it in the trash. Lesson learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 There are a few methods to pump comps containing metal. First always press, do not ram or use a hammer to consolidate them. You either want the clearance between the ram and pump walls to be very close or loose. This will prevent the metals from becoming stuck between the wall and your ram. So you sort of have to know what the range in mesh sizes is. As Ddewes also pointed out, an increment of meal or comp that does not contain the metal can be used as a cushion. Also when you first load your pump or star plate gently consolidate it with light hand pressure and remove it before pressing to final pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrB Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'm not working a lot with pumped, or pressed stars. But when i've been doing monkey work for mates, it's always been done the same way. Weight is what determines the amount of comp that goes in to each star. All of it goes in, and gets a tiny manual tap on top with the ram to flatten everything out. And then a couple of grams of the same composition without Ti goes on top. The ram is seated in the tube, and it's all put in the press. It still wears on the tools, but nothing like destroying them in a afternoon. Since they use brass tooling, they aren't very expensive, so they just replace a couple of the pumps on a yearly basis. I'm having a different problem rolling my stars. The Ti is so large it makes for weird bumps. The stars just doesn't come out round. I end up trying to size them and then just all a final layer of composition without Ti on to get them round. And then i'm using 450-1000µm shavings, which from advices here still is a bare minimum, for some of the stuff i want to do. I have no idea how people work the larger stuff. Cut stars?B! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroMIKE Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 (edited) Use spherical Ti..It works great as well..I just pumped some C6 +15% spherical Ti( -40 -100 mesh) comets and the tail was from the ground all the way up on 6 inch shells. here is a video of some 8 inch shells with the exact comp used in the comets I made and they were identical.On a side note if you want to pump comps with Ti in them, make a PVC-wooden dowel homemade pump..They work just as good if not better than expensive pumps , can be made for a few dollars, and will not damage when pumping with comps containing hard metals..heres a pic of my 1 inch pump I made and some comets from the pump..http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll194/mkillian_2008/photobucket-60710-1412799971808_zps96489c90.jpg http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll194/mkillian_2008/photobucket-34314-1412799344293_zps3fc5b378.jpg Heres a vid showing the comets-tails. Edited October 30, 2014 by pyroMIKE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superstring Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Simply place a chipboard disk that fits snugly in the bore, between the comp containing the Ti, and the rammer. Press only, never hammer any comps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I just ruined a nice aluminum 3/4" comet pump... I tried to press some comp with titanium. All I can say is, DON'T do it. I tried for a half hour to clean the pump out, to no avail. Those tiny titanium chips gouged the $hit outta my pump. Threw it in the trash. Lesson learned. Never throw pumps away if they are scratched or scarred by titanium, send them off to me and I will sand out the scratches from both the support tube and the rammer then groove an o-ring ring so that it doesn't happen a second time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superstring Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Dag, you know your stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superstring Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I just ruined a nice aluminum 3/4" comet pump... I tried to press some comp with titanium. All I can say is, DON'T do it. I tried for a half hour to clean the pump out, to no avail. Those tiny titanium chips gouged the $hit outta my pump. Threw it in the trash. Lesson learned. Better dig thru the trash and retreive that pump! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 you can use any good, expensive, cheap, metal, plastic, wood pump with titanium if you use an o-ring just below the pressing face. it works the same way as a paper disk or comp on top of the Ti comp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddewees Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) Or wax your pump... Wax may even cure cancer one day... Edited October 31, 2014 by ddewees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Dag, you know your stuff. Thanks SS, I just seized a pump two weeks ago with iron, I just turned the support off of it and sanded the rammer, added an o-ring and used it again an hour later with no scratching so i am 100% sure this will work for any pump out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enanthate Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 I'm sure you can get a very cheap dremel in the US, great for pyro-use and especially pumps that are struggling from the metalsyndrome. Lovely shells, Mike. Do you intentionally make that "spiraltrail" on your shells? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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