Titanium (Grade 2) or S.S. (303)

SmokeWalker

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Hey Everybody,

I've got a potential job coming up and I'm trying to decide between Gr. 2 Ti or SS. We don't need the strength of Grade 5, and the part needs corrosion resistance, so some economical stainless steel would be required if going with anything ferrous.

Machinery:
Manual chucker lathe with the option of low pressure through coolant drill usage.

The part will have a 3/8" hole either drilled 7xd.
The part will have bores to accommodate 9/16-40 internal multistart threads that go 1/2" into the part.
Run of maybe 100 pieces.

Help me decide which material to go with. The main concern with Gr. 2 titanium is that even with the sharpest of tools, and perfect chip formation, I've seen it kick up super small burrs with forming cuts, so I'm worried about burrs at the thread crest which could make the fitment of the parts go all over the place. I can totally see inconsistent thread quality being an issue here, as the multistart threads have to be cut one lead at a time. It's manual, so we can't index for each lead, it would take too long. I thought about cutting the threads for each lead one at a time, and then doing a spring pass–after the part is "roughed out" essentially–to remove any burrs. What do you think? Also, I thought it might help to start with a minor diameter that's a bit bigger than usual. This is for a part that's usually done in plastic, and switching to metal means less <thread %> will be necessary.

What do you think?

SW
 
I would go with 303SS. Cuts like a dream, very nice to machine.
 
Ditto; nearly all the products that I made for the wine industry were made of 303, it's only drawback is weldability, it tends to undercut with TIG welding, I was told that you should use 308 filler rod with it. The machinability is wonderful, with no work hardening tendency.
 
Yes 308 will run better but i think 316 l is even better.
 
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