Has anyone welded Titanium?

[sniper]

Anyone ever worked with Titanium before? It is hard to weld? I have read that you have to protect the back side of the weld with an argon shield. And you should also use something called, a trailing shield? to protect the cooling weld. What gauge, or thickness tube would you use to build a Ti. exhaust or intake system.

Check out this crazy V8 Nissan!

Now these welds may look nice, but supposedly, you don't want your Ti. turning pretty colors. It's supposed to say silver or straw color.

 

[sniper]

some good info from miller on Ti. welding

http://www.millerwelds.com/education/articles/article120.html

 

[stevechumo]

The welding looks amazing. But instead of welding little pieces together, I'd rather have a shop that can mandrel-bend the pipe to the angles that I want, so that I'll have the connected pipes with much longer sections.

 

[markstoys]

The welding looks amazing. But instead of welding little pieces together, I'd rather have a shop that can mandrel-bend the pipe to the angles that I want, so that I'll have the connected pipes with much longer sections.

I'll bet that finding mandrel bent Ti is pretty hard, if not impossible, especially in a large size like that. Although I agree that it would look much cleaner.

Mark

 

[XR8tt]

I think if he polished the welds alittle it would LOOK much better ??
Function over bling anytime though..
Yes I have welding titanium R1 Yamaha exhaust.. From memory TIG and s/steel rod ?? Purged up the inside before welding..

 

[sniper]

I'm not sure if its possible to get mandrel bent Ti? Most Ti. exhaust systems I'v seen are cut-weld type bends. If it was relatively affordable to mandrel bend Ti. I would assume companies would do that on the exhaust systems they produce. Ti. is probably rather brittle when you try and stretch it, but that's just a guess...

Being a fabrication head, more welds the better for me!

I'v heard of people using SS filler rod, but I'v also heard that makes the weld very brittle and it can crack easy. how did your R1 exhaust hold up?


I just got my hands on a .020 wall, diameter 3.5 inch, piece of Ti. tube. I only have 24 inches to work with, so I want to be sure what the heck im doing before I start cutting it up and welding on it.

 

[XR8tt]

Yes o/k ..The welds are close to original welds.. We made them into twin exhaust with smaller pipes to mufflers.. Being there is two of them..
At low rpm it sounds like a boxer engine...
He put it on dyno.. Made 165 rwhp with a little lose low in rpm.. I guess due to removing restrictor butterflies...
Its the earlier 5 valve engine..
Went to some trouble to make sure there was NO stress on system when bolted up..
Back purging seems the answer.. Use potatoes to seal ends Lol... With a tube pushed through into tube connected to Argon ..
Hey it works.... Hahaha

 

[sniper]

Yes o/k ..The welds are close to original welds.. We made them into twin exhaust with smaller pipes to mufflers.. Being there is two of them..
At low rpm it sounds like a boxer engine...
He put it on dyno.. Made 165 rwhp with a little lose low in rpm.. I guess due to removing restrictor butterflies...
Its the earlier 5 valve engine..
Went to some trouble to make sure there was NO stress on system when bolted up..
Back purging seems the answer.. Use potatoes to seal ends Lol... With a tube pushed through into tube connected to Argon ..
Hey it works.... Hahaha

Ah, potatoes! sealing the tube to get argon on the back side is an issue. I am planning on doing a series of cut-welds like the Nissan shown above. maybe it's not possible without a welding chamber? Any other ideas?

 

[vvega]

we used to use a argon bath for the aircraft exhausts

basically a big box ... argon is heavier than air .. so can be contained in a open top box
proper filler rods were used .. they were about 74 bucks each
it welds a bit like butter ....and you need to scrub it before you weld it .. otherwise you don't get the shinny finish and a decent weld

 

[Smitherz]

 

[stevechumo]

The weld is so nice and clean.:arms:

 

[Toysrme]

ti is alright to weld. its like welding a dirty heavy stainless that doesn't wash as well

 

[MrMark0487]

Ti is a lot like welding stainless just a lot stickier if you miss the weld pool slightly then your filler rod will stick to the job.

The best way to argon back pipe is to use masking tape to cover the end of the pipe and just punch a hole with your purging line and make sure to cover the other end as well leaving a little hole.

You should always clean your weld area with a s/s Brush prior to welding and possibly acetone if you have any.

Use Ti filler rods because then you wont have integrity issues i.e. weak welds.

I'm taking an educated guess at the trailing shield being the flow of argon after you have stopped welding it should go for about 7 seconds after you have stopped welding.

hope thats helped