Why the heck is titanium such an expensive material to work with? I dream of a titanium device for its durability and lightness,yet the cost is astronomical! Roughly $1500aud for a simple device! Anyone out there offer a reasonable, educated opinion on the issue? Cheers, Fluff
Titanium itself is expensive to produce, leading to a fairly high market value to start with. Thus the raw material for such a device is considerably more expensive than other options. Add to that the extreme difficulty of working with titanium - it's hard to shape due to it's memory effect and difficult to weld, requiring welding in an inert gas atmosphere to avoid contamination & brittle welds and you can see it requires more time and skill to create a device from this material. So, high material cost, high skill level, more time plus a mark-up for the fact it's an unusual request... yes, titanium devices will be expensive. Scott.
Isn't it great when you get an answer so quickly from someone who knows his subject! That's what this place is all about - members helping each other. There is a member here who makes Titanium belts @TitaniumChastiTi and I thought he had posted about his process - but he may have described it do me in chat. Hopefully he can add to Scott's ( @scottishsubby ) reply.
Titanium is normally used in aircraft, and in particular jet engines, where great strength and heat resistance coupled with low weight are required. The specific gravity of titanium is 4.5, while that of stainless steel is 8, so the latter is almost twice as heavy. The jet engine connection tells you why it is expensive.
I've not seen these devices before. Only knew of steelwerks and Minasbitch for titanium. These devices look like they're only supported by a ring or the pa piercing itself. With Lori, steelworxx or other parts devices I've seen, the majority of the weight is supported by the shaft behind the glans. I can only speak personally about the 2 devices I own, a Lori 5B and a steelworxx tube jacket02. Both are almost entirely supported by the glans. Only when it's really cold do I notice any weight on the piercing.
You won't get low cost titanium devices for sure, but you don't have to rely on just 2 producers (TitaniumCastiTi and steelwerksextreme) also. Should you have a way to produce a cad file of a device (make one of your own or produce it in any way) there are quite a few companies who offer to build almost anything you want from Titanium via cnc or 3d-printing. It comes for a price though - even if the majority of the price should be material costs.
As I may have mentioned before I drive a truck for a living. I hauled a load of titanium rod once going to a NASA installation, it was only 8,000lbs worth but the value of the load was over half a mil if that gives you an idea of the price of titanium
As much as it is a bitch to work it is very easy to anodise and produces stunning colours. 80000ib that was quite a big stack as it's so light . Xx Wendy
Is also much harder than steel - much better for security therefore. Grade 23 is I think used in space rocket launching. So somewhat resistant to heat and cutting tools! If you're on FL there's a member there had a device there done custom. Mina's bitch or similar - forget the exact spelling.
Now found it. Is Minas_bitch PIcs of device iss here: one as is and one worn. You have to be in FL to see them. https://fetlife.com/users/65923/pictures/48773131 https://fetlife.com/users/65923/pictures/41142677 More pix on his profile. Secured also with piercing.
Another pic shows how it's secured. Security screw connects with the underside of the PA piercong. Top LH https://fetlife.com/users/65923/pictures/48816586
Ive discussed this at length and yet again find myself having to explain...... Take some time to research the material, its properties and how to work with it before you complain about the price !!!! to quote JFK "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard" Perhaps the fact that only 2 possibly 3 people in the world are working with this material. I wont repeat the previous posts regarding the reasons behind the costs, they are nearly all correct but there are errors which I will not point out as its unfair to the posters who were trying to help. If the cost of a device is too high, invest £10,000 in a machine shop, 14 months in daily development, in my leisure time, thousands of hours and wasted material time learning how to work it, turn it weld it and the scrap alone is valued @ £1800/ton and make your own ??
It takes me close to 50 hours to make a Ti-600, whats your hourly rate in your day job ?, having invested £10,000 in my workshop ?
Just for your info and again to explain to those who dont appreciate what it takes to achieve something like that fantastic piece of work, save £3000 and then carry on saving !!!
Apologies if that's how I came across!! it was not my intention, its well known that if you ask a Yorkshire man a question you get a swift to the point reply, I did not mean to offend but the constant justification of the price of my items I make does make me slightly defensive at times !!!
I don't think @Fluffluvva was asking specifically about your devices @TitaniumChastiTi - more a general question about the cost of the material itself. I do recall a very interesting chat where you described in detail the skills and dangers involved in working with Titanium and hoped you could provide that insight - it was fascinating. Some mention has been made, and I've seen elsewhere, talk of devices printed in Titanium. How would these differ from your devices. Can one really get a device printed that's 100% titanium ?
@maid_carrie and @Fluffluvva Titanium is fecking horrible to work with almost to the point that Im seriously considering no longer manufacturing, at least not at the price structure I currently have when you consider what I make for £500 the nearest is £2500. Ive said it before I do this because I enjoy it, if this was my way of paying the mortgage mine would be £2500 too. I did this because I came to the conclusion that if I had to wear it, It had to be the best. I know its out of the range of a lot of people but im probably producing at a price where I actually subsidise someone elses life style and can no longer do that !!
Thank you @Nicoftime very kind, I got the rant off my chest you will be ok as will the others, it just winds me up some times. @maid_carrie yes you can indeed get one printed from Titanium, I believe from the chats ive had with some one on here its start @ £3000 if you can produce the file they need to work with ;-)
And then still needs many many hours of skilled work to polish to a level that I myself would feel was acceptable to pass on to a paying customer