titanium bolts

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shawn kloker

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How many of you have ever held a titanium bolt in your hand?I did last night at Rod's shop.It blew my mind,I never knew just how light they really are.It felt lighter than aluminum to me.He had boxes and boxes full of them.
 
shawn kloker said:
How many of you have ever held a titanium bolt in your hand?I did last night at Rod's shop.It blew my mind,I never knew just how light they really are.It felt lighter than aluminum to me.He had boxes and boxes full of them.
WOW Shawn..... is there a twisted love story in the works?
You sounded WAY to excited....lol
j/k man.
I've never even seen a titanium bolt let alone held one.
I'd assume they can be used on frame parts only?
oh....btw..... someone told me to ask you if you had one of those "elbows" that come off the back of the carb.... the one that the drain hose attaches to.
If you do.... how much would you want for one?
one of mine is broken off....
Thanxs...Randy
 
I have the drag racing bug bad.lighter is faster.I do not have any extra carb parts but I will bet that Sean Morley does.I think he has sold them to others before.
 
shawn kloker said:
How many of you have ever held a titanium bolt in your hand?I did last night at Rod's shop.It blew my mind,I never knew just how light they really are.It felt lighter than aluminum to me.He had boxes and boxes full of them.
They are lighter than aluminum and as strong as steel. You can get them in different hardnesses/strengths but they are very expensive. Some are 10 times the cost of steel bolts. Perhaps a lot of the fasteners/parts on the new Max will be made out of ti.
 
shawn kloker said:
How many of you have ever held a titanium bolt in your hand?.

When I worked in an Aluminum welding shop we had some Titanium tubing shipped in by mistake. I had about 60ft of the stuff cut up into 3 inch lengths with the bandsaw before we realised there was something wrong. I still have some 3/4 and 1 inch out in my shed.
I wanted to build a bike frame but it is too hard to work with.:pullhair:
 
I think the new Z06 Vette uses titanium connecting rods, intake valves. valve springs and pushrods to reduce reciprocating wieght.....

505HP isn't cheap $$$$$$
 
Titanium is too brittle to use in a situation like the frame in most cases. You would be better off making a chrome moly frame.

I install ti bolts everyday and large bolts are still pretty weighty but not like steel ones. We also work with a lot of titianum daily in many applications on the airplane (I work for Spirit which supplies Boeing with fuselages).
 
I actually just put a new water pump on a BMW CAR , it has Titanium bolts holding the water pump , it comes with new ones because it says you’re not supposed to re-use them so I have the old ones at my house .
My friend was over Saturday night and I showed them to him , we both agreed that they are lighter than Aluminum .
They are so light I’d be scared to use them ! Mentally I just can’t get over it !
I’m sure they might be strong as HELL , but they just FREAK ME OUT !
 
Here is a link to my favorite youtube channel that discusses Titanium - pros and cons. https://youtu.be/GHjOMyT0PJA

It is heavier than aluminum but is pretty amazing stuff. My sportbike is loaded with Titanium and carbon fiber, but i'd never stick it on the Vmax. It would be a gold ring in a pig nose! Cool stuff for sure though.
 
They also not have plastic bolts that are very strong but again not something I would used in a structural application.
 
I have a 1953 Popular Mechanics magazine which has an extensive article about the element Ti. It features a lot of aerospace references to the use of it, and this is barely into double digits for the Jet Age. Remember that our original 'space program' arose out of the work the Germans did in liquid-propellant rocketry for the V2/A4 program, which itself arose from a USA rocket scientist, Robert Goddard, who started his research into liquid-propellant rockets around WW I! He was largely ignored, especially by the USA military. However, Germany was re-arming and ignoring the Treaty of Versailles, and they were reading all the published research Dr. Goddard did, and were using it to grow their own rocket program, which is where Wernher Von Braun was making progress on the first supersonic liquid-fueled rocket, which the Third Reich used to bomb London. At the end of the war, Operation Paperclip was a program to capture as-much German technology as-possible, and that included scientists like Dr. Von Braun. It was all shipped back to the USA, and the V2/A4 became the backbone of our space program for awhile.

Here is a pic (#1) of the liquid propelled rocket thrust vectoring vanes from one of Dr. Goddard's early rockets. Gyroscopes linked to those were used to provide control over flight paths. They and the nozzles through-which the ignited propellant exited the rocket engine would often burn-through, resulting in flight failure. A member of the Du Pont family supported Dr. Goddard's research between World Wars when he was mostly ignored by our government, though his work is the foundation of all liquid-fueled rocketry today.

Pic #2 is the German V1 'buzz-bomb,' a ramjet launched off a catapult track also using a gyroscope to guide it across the English Channel to throw a ton of high-explosive wherever the fuel ran-out. Behind it is a replica of the Vanguard, our first successful rocket to launch a satellite into orbit.

Pilots learned to destabilize the V1's by pulling alongside them in flight (they were unmanned) and using the pilot's wingtip under the stubby V1 wing, and then banking sharply to the opposite side, to throw the V1 into a spiral to the earth. This way they saved their ammo for targets which fought back, like Messerschmidt BF-109 and Focke-Wulf 190 fighters.

Pictures taken at the Washington DC Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and property of the author.

Pamkl, a German company, makes the F1 connecting rods for many manufacturers. The single nuts that hold-on F1 car wheels is a Ti part, and I read they cost $1700 apiece, and that was years-ago. I believe the F16 uses a Ti bulkhead in-front of-which sits the pilot, and behind of-which is the turbine. The wing roots are there too. I think I read it starts out as a billet, so I would suspect that's a seven-figure ($) single piece.

There is a bicycle company in TN named Litespeed. They manufacture Ti frames for road bikes, offroad ATB's, downhill bikes, time-trial bikes, you name-it. They also make frames for other manufacturers which then get their own nameplates, though Litespeed built it. I have a Litespeed road bike, now called the Classic, mine is one of the first frames they made. If you count to #20, you went too-far. It's very light. The two alloys most used are 3-2.5 and 6/4. Each alloy has its own attributes.

There is a 'cheap' Ti alloy, most of it comes from the former Soviet Union, called CP (Commercially-Pure). Ti is actually a very-common element, but to refine it and to get the alloy needed takes a lot of processing and energy. As-mentioned, to work it is also difficult, both for machining and for welding. I'm sure Sean could tell some stories about those processes. Tooling used to work it wears-out more-quickly.

Back in the 'glory-days' of motocross, when the BSA 441 had become a 500 cc single, and then eventually sold to a British company named CCM, John Banks, their star rider, was running a Ti frame. Suzuki also ran Ti frames, and it's rumored all the Japanese Big 4 experimented with them. Supposedly, bikes had to have ballast added to meet the class minimum weight.

I have a Ti watch, it needs no battery (Eco-Drive, 'powered by light'), it's a chronograph with a digital .001 second readout. It looks fairly big and bulky, but it's very light on your wrist. The faceplate looks like a KOSO literbike dash panel.

As to the benefits of lightening things up, it's very expensive to switch to Ti, unless like Sean, you have a source. You're better-served by going on a diet, and losing ten pounds, or more.

I also have a dirtbike that has a pair of Ti handlebars, I bought them probably 45 years-ago.

I believe that to work on aerospace parts made of Ti, you need to have Ti wrenches, as the typical cadmium plating on over the counter wrenches can damage the Ti alloy. That's the probable source of the complaints about the military's "$500 hammers," and "$400 wrenches." Ignorance is bliss.

Finally, since this is a motorcycle forum, pictures of the world's fastest vehicle, two-wheels or four: Glenn Curtiss's land-speed record V-8 motorcycle, which he built from a dirigible engine he had designed, and built, and then adapted to motorcycle use. Curtiss was the fastest man on land or in the air, quite a distinction. He's the proud native son of Hammondsport NY. Pic #3 is the bike, #4 is the bevel gear final drive, and #5 is the V-8 engine. Curtiss designed it, he built it and he rode it. I don't know which is bigger, his brain or his balls, try to find the brakes. :worthy::ummm:
 

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