It's back (titanium repair content)...It's back again!

[ti_pin_man]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

I loved my original 1994 frame so much I bought one of the new models when they did the limited run.

 

[greencat]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

Holes aside, it's much neater than Vernon Barker's work. Be interested to hear total turnaround time and cost. Vernon turned mine around in about a week, and it cost £60. In the end, I thought it was a good deal as I'm not one to worry much about aesthetics (I even quite like the battle worn look mine now has).

 

[kingbling]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

@ green cat I'd like to see some picture of the welding you've had done if possible

 

[Harryburgundy]

Re:

GC. My invoice was £100 but it's hard to comment on turnaround as I sent the frame mid-December and I didn't get it back until early Jan with the holidays and my comment 'take your time, no rush'.
Now it's back with them and a couple of key staff are on parental leave.
I'll update pictures when I can

 

[greencat]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

@ green cat I'd like to see some picture of the welding you've had done if possible

Not the tidiest - but I suspect there's zero chance of it breaking it again.

Thanks Harry btw. £100 seems pretty good for nice and tidy welding like yours.

 

[02gf74]

Re:

Jeez that horrible, i reckon i could do better.

The best welds look like a stack of coins tipped over, that looks like dog turd squeezed out of a poodles arse by a one eyed man with the dts whilst standing on a wobbly platform.

 

[T'boo Ted]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

Got to admit, on first seeing that pic was OMG thats nasty...but hey, if it means you can ride it still, then that matters more.

 

[kingbling]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

Thanks for the picture GC.
I suspect that the filler rod was to thick for the material and the weld hadn't been prepared properly which has resulted in the crack being bridged over rather than being welded. If you can get your finger in far enough to feel the weld you can determine what has been done. As for pricing £60 is rather excessive for the quality of welding, £45 to £60 per hour is the average rate for a fabrication shop and I would estimate that job would have taken half an hour.
As a rule of thumb a neat and tidy weld is usually a good weld if it's rough it's usually suspect and would fail any visual weld test.

 

[greencat]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

The weld has definitely penetrated the interior of the tube. I have had Vernon do a smaller job on another frame before - and while it wasn't very pretty, it certainly held for at least 2 years.

This time around Enigma were my first port of call, but they didn't respond to my follow up email (IIRC) - and a friend who'd had some welding done with them reckoned it had cost £200. When Vernon came back quickly, and offered to do it quickly/cheaply as well - I went with them again.

The thing that amazes me is why there aren't more titanium bike welders (or even "ordinary" titanium welders willing to give it a shot). As far as I know, there's only Vernon and Enigma in UK. If there are titanium welders on this forum, I would definitely give them a try if there's a next time.

 

[kingbling]

Re: Ooo...I just remembered. It's back (titanium repair content)

Titanium is not the easiest of materials to weld due to it's relationship with oxygen when welding it needs a pre-purge before arcing and you can't get this with a normal TIG also there are 31 grades of Titanium and filler rods should be kept in an air-tight container. These are prohibitive costs for a start up, the cheapest titanium TIG welder will cost you around £2000 and filler rods around £100 a pack, gas is £50 for 20L and a £80 deposit on the bottle. Unless your doing it on a daily bases its not really worth it.