Tired of machine shops no-quoting you on complex titanium parts? You need a shop that knows what it takes to machine this difficult material. 

At Focused on Machining, we love working with titanium. . . seriously! Challenging jobs are the ones that get us up in the morning excited about coming to work. There’s nothing more satisfying for our team than figuring out how to excel at something really tough. 

As part of Colorado’s booming aerospace industry—the second-largest in the country!—we’re proud to be a go-to shop for titanium aerospace parts. 

Challenges of Titanium Machining

Let’s take a quick look at why many shops avoid titanium machining: 

• It’s difficult to source. Most shops have a close network of local vendors that they rely on for purchasing material in standard bar form. Titanium, however, is much more difficult to source. Shops that work with titanium must look beyond local vendors to source the material out of state, often paying for additional expenses like shipping and freight charges and having the material cut to piece size.
  

• It’s difficult to machine. When machine tools aren’t sharp enough, titanium tends to get gummy during machining, which can lead to a problem known as work hardening. The dull tools mush the material, in turn creating friction and added heat—a known enemy of machinists. The introduction of heat makes what’s already a hard material even harder, increasing the risk of tool wear and compromising the quality of a part.
  

• It’s difficult to figure out. Any challenging machining process inevitably comes with a learning curve. Once you crack the code, there’s an element of repeatability that simplifies processes going forward. But the simple truth is that a lot of shops don’t want to invest the time and effort to reach that point. 

Why Focused on Machining Excels at Titanium Machining 

We’re not like other shops. We’re always bettering ourselves to become better for our customers. Here’s how we cracked the code on titanium machining:

• Tooling selection. When machining materials like steel or aluminum, any 3 or 4 flute end mill—new or used—will cut through the metal just fine. But that’s not the case with titanium. When we work with titanium, we use brand new high-performance 5 flute to 7 flute end mills every time. We’ll never throw a used end mill at a machine to cut titanium.
  

• Careful monitoring. Since sharp tooling is the key to avoiding work hardening, we monitor machines closely for tool wear—especially when we’re doing production jobs. If necessary, we change the end mill out much earlier than we normally would to ensure consistently sharp cutting.
  

• Updated technology. We’re pushing the envelope on speeds, rigidity, and tooling performance with a fleet of advanced machines less than 10 years old. Our machines are so fast that we can cut titanium almost as quickly as we can cut aluminum. That’s 180”-250” per minute!
  

• Appetite for complexity. Unlike many of our competitors, our Denver machine shop seeks out challenging parts. If two quotes come in at the same time and one of them is a complex titanium aerospace part, you can guess which one we’re more excited about. We enjoy being the solution to our customers’ toughest machining challenges. 

Next time you need machined titanium parts, save yourself the hassle of a bunch of no-quotes and come to Focused on Machining first. Request a quote today!