titanium-mens-ring

Then I use a half round/flat pair of pliers and bend the strip into a 'U'.

I could file the U into a taper, but I am effort adverse.
So I use a grinding wheel to shape the shank into a rough taper.

Then I use a belt sander with a 60 grit belt on to flatten the shank.
I have cut the top side shorter as well.

Now I cut another piece of 1 mm plate and trace one side of the inside of the shank with a Sharpie.

I cut the one side off, then fit the shank against the cut off section and trace the other side of the shank.

Then I cut it off.

I fit and file the side until it fits.
Now I fit the side about 0.5 mm lower than the edge of the shank.
The idea is to heat and collapse the titanium shank and as it melts it will run onto the plate as I heat it, because molten metal will always run towards heat.
So I am not actually welding with a filler, but rather fusing the one metal side into the other.

I ran the welder at 6 amps and I was wondering if it wouldn't stall or something, because it is rated at 250 amps so I don't think it is really designed to operate that low.
I was wrong, though and it worked perfectly for what I wanted.
This was the first time I had tried it.
The first weld was on the left and the second on the right.

Since I have bought my Tig welding machine I have been teaching myself Tig weld titanium. I know how to stick weld iron and I have little reason to weld aluminium except on a hobby scale. Titanium is actually quite forgiving, and as long as you keep things reasonably clean, keep your gas at the correct flow rate, it is a lot like soldering with welding goggles , like one does platinum. Except electrically.
So I made this set up to weld titanium with a measure of precision.
The torch is held in place on a central post that can also swivel.

I needed to weld with a Optivisor magnifier for really close work and you can't wear one with a welding helmet.
So I made a frame out of steel and removed a self darkening unit from a second welding helmet I bought.
I attached the unit to the metal frame and made a stand for it.
The unit had to be mounted upside down to allow the trigger thingi better exposure to the weld light. The stand can be locked at any angle that's needed.

Also, because the unit needs to be shifted around, I made a steel block that I drilled some 5 mm holes in so the block can be used on different sides.

And it the piece is higher, like my saw frames, the block can be put on its side to give extra height.

So this is the view I see behind my Optivisor.
I use a goose neck led light so I can see the piece.
I thought that the UV rays from the welding would cook the led light in short order, but it seems not to be the case.
This system works well for me so far, but I can see some more modifications coming.

So anyway, here I have flattened the side on my belt sander.

Now I take my ring sizes and draw a size R on the side.

Then I pierce it out using a 3/0 “Pike” brand saw blade made for platinum cutting.
Other brands for normal cutting go blunt after just a few strokes.
The platinum saw blades, ( no matter what brand) are harder and thus more brittle.
So they break quite easily, but once you get the hang of them, they stay sharp for much longer.

Once the one side is cut out I do the same on the other side .
Draw, cut.

And then the other side, then file and fit as well.

Then fuse the sides together.

Same as before. Grind flat, pierce and file true.
Now for the top of the ring.

I grind the top of the ring flat on my belt sander.

Then I trim off two more pieces from my piece of plate.
One for the top and one for the inside.

I hold the top down with some binding wire and then tack it into place.

Once it is tacked I fuse the sides down into the ring.

Then I sand the ring down again, but not too much, because I didn't want to grind all the fusing away.

Now I bend the inside strip round in my swage block.
I bend it smaller than needed and the tap it up on my triblet until it is the right diameter.

Then I fit it into the ring.

First I fuse one side so that the inside plate cannot move anymore.

Then I grind down both sides to 'fusing height'.

The close up looks rougher than it actually is. I knew the inside would be tricky to do because it is even tricky with gold and silver, so titanium proved to be so as well.
With this joint I used a bit of filler rod.
The next one will be easier.

So the inside came out OK-ish, but you can clearly see some porosity marks on the bottom right.

Also, on the right you can clearly see the actual joint.
So that means that the fusing did not penetrate deeper than I needed to grind the side down flush.
The second time I will file the pieces more accurately and play around with the amperage.
I think that 10 amps will do the trick.