fixing ear posts to titanium?

Hi folks,

I'm looking at a pair of titanium hoop earrings, but I'm stumped as to
attaching the posts to them.
The only way seem to have any semblence of success is to drill the hoops,
and press the posts in, and crimp (punch) the material to mechanically lock
the posts in place.
I tried silver solder on the titanium, and th esolder simply beaded up
(similar to dirty metal) despite the amount, or quantity of flux applied.

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions on this issue?

thanks,
Des

Des Bromilow wrote:
Hi folks,

I'm looking at a pair of titanium hoop earrings, but I'm stumped as to
attaching the posts to them.
The only way seem to have any semblence of success is to drill the hoops,
and press the posts in, and crimp (punch) the material to mechanically lock
the posts in place.
I tried silver solder on the titanium, and th esolder simply beaded up
(similar to dirty metal) despite the amount, or quantity of flux applied.

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions on this issue?

thanks,
Des

Ok I can help you here,
1... You cannot silver or anyother metal braze titanium.
2. you can join it as follows
3. resistance welding
4. argon arc welding
5. flash but welding also known as capacitor discharge plasma welding
6. fine silver sweating under high vacumn. induction heated.
so without these speciallist techniques in your work shop,all your left
with are mechanical methods.
you havnt described what the hoops are made of.
tube? sheet? wire? the solution to your problem will be determined by
the rest of the design.
Ive made lots of titanium products including ear drops rings etc. All my
findings ive made from titanium (999 pure) wire as an ear wire hook
with saftipin latch. All from one piece of wire.
They last in use about 20 years. till the wear in thwe drop's hole and
the wire requires themn to be replaced.
your problem is to get enough titanium wire at the right price to work
out a design and production method to suit your experience.

From what I know of Ti, it cannot be soldered in any fashion, but can be
welded in three ways:
--easy, but expensive--lasers. Most of the laser welders for jewelry
advertise that they can work Ti. Buy, Lease or fine someone to do it
--difficult, and cheapish--explosion. You can explosion weld Ti to
itself or dissimilar metals, obviously only if you know what you're doing
--ignore this one--hammer. You can forge weld Ti to steel, and I would
assume other Ti, but I don't know how

The other option would be to thread the posts and tap the hole, and
screw the posts into the hoop, perhaps with a bit o' the locktite. If
you go to some of the knifemakers BBSs, they can give some tips on
working with Ti
Aaron

In article ,
"Des Bromilow" wrote:

Hi folks,

I'm looking at a pair of titanium hoop earrings, but I'm stumped as to
attaching the posts to them.
The only way seem to have any semblence of success is to drill the hoops,
and press the posts in, and crimp (punch) the material to mechanically lock
the posts in place.
I tried silver solder on the titanium, and th esolder simply beaded up
(similar to dirty metal) despite the amount, or quantity of flux applied.

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions on this issue?

thanks,
Des

Des Bromilow wrote:

Hi folks,

I'm looking at a pair of titanium hoop earrings, but I'm stumped as to
attaching the posts to them.
The only way seem to have any semblence of success is to drill the hoops,
and press the posts in, and crimp (punch) the material to mechanically lock
the posts in place.
I tried silver solder on the titanium, and th esolder simply beaded up
(similar to dirty metal) despite the amount, or quantity of flux applied.

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions on this issue?

thanks,
Des

Your only options are, cold joining (rivets or screw) or laser welding/tacking
--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 02:25:49 -0700, in ?? "Des Bromilow"
wrote:

Hi folks,

I'm looking at a pair of titanium hoop earrings, but I'm stumped as to
attaching the posts to them.
The only way seem to have any semblence of success is to drill the hoops,
and press the posts in, and crimp (punch) the material to mechanically lock
the posts in place.
I tried silver solder on the titanium, and th esolder simply beaded up
(similar to dirty metal) despite the amount, or quantity of flux applied.

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions on this issue?

thanks,
Des

within the jewelry industry, the usual approaches a

1. Using a titanium post with an attached pad, which allows the use of cold
adhesives (glue) rather than soldering. Easy and cheap if the design allows it,
but sometimes less permanent. Requires a design with sufficient attachment area
for a decent size pad, plus must allow the thickness of the pad plus adhesive
without looking too bad. Probably not what you need here.

2. Use of laser welders with argon gas shielding. Fast and effective, if you
happen to have access to a 30 thousand dollar laser welder...

3. Use of capacitance discharge spot welding, also known as fusion welding.
Perhaps the fastest, and most common method. The machines range from rather
pricey commercial units, to the little "Sparkie" type units that cost a couple
hundred dollars from Rio Grande. With these units, welding titanium or niobium
ear posts to almost any jewelry metal (including aluminum) becomes quite easy and
very fast (takes just seconds per weld). Main downside is that it requires
specially made posts with a little "nib" on them that produces the electric arc
that actually allows the weld to occur. Not a major problem, as such findings
are widely available.

If you dont' have access to these methods, then mechanical "cold joints", such as
threading the post, and a matching hole, and gluing in, or riveting on, the post,
or some such also can work.

If that doesn't work, then the easiest method is to find someone available, such
as myself, who has the needed equipment, who could do it for you. In my case, it
would cost you the two way postage, plus the cost of the findings, and a few
bucks to weld it. Contact me via email if you are interested.

Peter