titanium

I have a titanium ring I want to stretch 1 size.Can this be done or will it
split.I know nothing about titanium apart from it doesn't solder and is
inert.I don't have an oxy-acetylene torch but may be able to beg \borrow use
of one.

Esther Pilcher wrote:
I have a titanium ring I want to stretch 1 size.Can this be done or will it
split.I know nothing about titanium apart from it doesn't solder and is
inert.I don't have an oxy-acetylene torch but may be able to beg \borrow use
of one.

Did you have it given you? or did you buy it yourself?
If you did the latter you could try to contact the seller to ask
wether the ring was PURE titanium or the standard TIV4A6 alloy most ring
makers use.
If its pure titanium you might just get away with taking it to a
WORKING gold/silversmith and at your risk get him/her to put it through
his ring rolling machine.

If its the alloy mentioned above you wont touch it with this technique.
Theres only one other way and thats for the same gold/silver smith to
put it on his tapered steel and hammer it to stretch it. this will
change its surface to a textured look. but will stretch it up the 1 size.
shouldnt be more than a 15 min job. While you wait id say. then you
could try it on to get it right.

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:19:17 -0800, in hõ "Esther Pilcher"
wrote:

I have a titanium ring I want to stretch 1 size.Can this be done or will it
split.I know nothing about titanium apart from it doesn't solder and is
inert.I don't have an oxy-acetylene torch but may be able to beg \borrow use
of one.

Esther, first off, don't go near it with a torch. You'll just damage it with that.
Stretching (or shrinking) on standard stretchers or ring rollers sometimes works with
titanium, and sometimes not. Some are so hard they just sit there and laugh at your
efforts to move them, while others are nice and malleable. Little way to tell the
difference other than by trying it. It will either work or not. Won't split. You
might have to refinish it, though, after stretching, as the surface finish may change
(just like it can do with gold or silver, getting a somewhat "granular " look.

One other thing to watch for. Some of the titanium rings out there get fancy with an
inlay or overlay of gold or steel, or some other seperate metal in a central groove in
the titanium, or otherwise attached. These are almost always only a mechanical joint,
ie friction fit tightly together. Stretching or especially, shrinking, these, can
sometimes ruin the ring very quickly. So reserve the stretching for seamless single
piece rings. The more complex ones with the inlays might need to be cut and sized
conventionally (adding or subtracting metal). And with titanium, that generally
requires specialized equipment, like a laser welder.

Peter

Ted Frater wrote:
Esther Pilcher wrote:

I have a titanium ring I want to stretch 1 size.Can this be done or will it
split.I know nothing about titanium apart from it doesn't solder and is
inert.I don't have an oxy-acetylene torch but may be able to beg \borrow use
of one.


Did you have it given you? or did you buy it yourself?
If you did the latter you could try to contact the seller to ask
wether the ring was PURE titanium or the standard TIV4A6 alloy most ring
makers use.

You probably mean "Ti-6Al-4V", which is generally NOT what most ring makers use.
They (and I) generally use one of the CP grades, i.e. CP Grade 2

If its pure titanium you might just get away with taking it to a
WORKING gold/silversmith and at your risk get him/her to put it through
his ring rolling machine.

Small chance this will work, if it's a CP grade Titanium. Most likely it will
not work.


If its the alloy mentioned above you wont touch it with this technique.
Theres only one other way and thats for the same gold/silver smith to
put it on his tapered steel and hammer it to stretch it.

Not a snowball's chance in Hell that this will work. Ti-6Al-4V is just too damn
hard for that. You can hammer on that until the cows come home, nothing will
happen, except that your arm will get very tired after a while. It has a
Rockwell C Hardness (HRC) of 36! See http://tinyurl.com/6oahe Rockwell C test
is used for hard materials.

The only sure way to make a Titanium ring one size larger, is to bore the inside
out on a lathe. This of course assumes that the band is thick enough.

--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Peter W.. Rowe, wrote:

The more complex ones with the inlays might need to be cut and sized
conventionally (adding or subtracting metal).

That would be the wrong approach when sizing up is concerned. If there is
enough material in the thickness of the band, the easiest way to do this is to
bore out the center. 1 size up is an increase in diameter of .8 mm, i.e. .4 mm
needs to be removed fro the inside. Most Ti rings have enough material to do that.

Sizing down on the other hand, is a great deal more complicated with Ti.

--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com