Titanium Rod; Product Ideas

An affordable grill would be nice!

hat clip for small led lights
pot stands

You must use the Ti rod for tent stakes.

I bet nail stakes would go into hard ground better than your shepard hook stakes. Even though the center of force on the hook is directly over the body of the stake.

How would you attach a guyline to the stake? Put a hole in it? Flatten out the head like a nail? Glue something onto the head?

Thanks for the ideas.

I eventually plan to build a ti-grill.. I was thinking two sizes. 6" wide x 12" long and 8" wide x 16" long for groups… I was also thinking of making mini titanium S hooks.

The pot stand is a good idea but do you think a foil/sheet stand would be better?

The hat clip for small LED's is also a neat concept. Any thoughts on which LED light you would like to see it made for?

Now as far as ti-nail stakes go. I have been working on designing one. While its a two piece design but I am thinking about press fitting and then welding the head so they don't come off like Easton Stakes.. Though I almost think a 7075-T6 aluminum might make more sense. We will see.

Keep the ideas coming.. Thanks, Lawson

+1 on grill. That would be very welcome!

+1 on grill.

I've been wanting to get some roughly .12" ti rod, as long as it's very hard, tough grade, to use for a u frame for a backpack, or, more likely, two L parts that connect on the small top leg of the L, since that allows for shorter shipped ti rod.

I have a Lowe zepton that uses a u frame made out of steel, about 1/8" rod, incredibly strong, and the pack, without top, weighs 2 pounds. Narrow U, about 5".

So it's crossed my mind to do that with titanium as well, since it would be plenty strong and stiff.

A narrower U allows you to make proper wings on hip straps, connected about 6" apart, and to go up to shoulder straps for load lifters, and to arch it out a bit to move the pack body off your back.

http://rutalocura.com/Ti_Grills.html

Lawson, you dont want to build grills with that Ti. Ask Gary about it.

Yeah, most packs are similar in width. Perhaps three widths might be needed. And maybe two lengths. This will add a lot to a frameless pack.

Just fit them into the corners and supply a couple sticky velcro, and 1 shot superglue to mount them. Seems to hold pretty well on most silnylon, pack cloth. I have not tried it on cuben, though. Maybe a two ounce max increase in weight?

No need to make grills when Josh is peddling his on here..

Lawson
The way I read that was that Josh is suggesting you may not have the right Ti for the job.
Franco

Use the rod to make a handle. Attach it to a aluminum plate to make a trowel. The plate could be SMC TAnchor.

As usual Franco, your comprehension skills are spot on. Thanks, maybe I should have been more clear.

Lawson,

Really? WTF, "peddling"? There is a search function on BPL, lets check posts, and see who "peddles" over here. Its funny how every time I offer you help, Mechanical engineering on aluminum tent stakes, titanium at cost, metallurgy advice, etc. You get hostile and know better. Guess what kid, you dont know $hlit. Go ahead and build grills, build what ever you like with it, I dont care. Just make sure you know what your doing, and your customers dont get burned.

Hi Lawson,

How about some small Titanium "S" hooks. I've tried making these myself but didn't know how to heat treat them properly nor could I make them all the same size. The "S" hooks could be used for ultralight hammock supports–attaching a hammock to tree ropes. The right "S" hooks would be lighter, faster and easier than most other hammock setups and I don't believe anyone else has them yet.

These should be about 1" long (top to bottom of "S") and have 1/4" openings (2) for the ropes. The 0.125" rod won't be super strong– but if the hooks are all the same size (symmetrical), they could be 'stacked' on top of each other for strength & redundancy. My guess is that two or 3 of these stacked together would only weigh about 5 grams. Put me down for a dozen if you make them!

Steve

No need to be more clear Josh. Your last post showed the intentions of your first post and really paints a picture of who you are… The aim of both of your posts have been to discredit me and the material I planned to use, and the link was to show that you offered the superior product.. Your public attack is OUT OF LINE.

I have never sought any mechanical engineering help or metallurgy advice from you. What qualifications do you possibly have that makes you more knowledgeable of the subject? Especially given my brother runs the Non-Destructive Testing Department for a Billion Dollar Aerospace Manufacturing Company and my Dad has been a Welding and Metallurgy teacher for over 30 years. With these resources, why would I ever seek your advice?? While its true you offered to sell me Titanium, just remember your the one who contacted me, Not the other way around.. and I NEVER purchased any rod from you so don't try and spin your words to make it sound like I did. You were selling Chinese rod that was more expensive then the Domestic rod I was already buying.. It surely wasn't "at cost".

I am not sure if you have a trail name but a good one for you would be Drama.. It seems to surround you and your posts on BPL..

Maybe I'm nuts but how about making a tripod to hang cookware over a fire? Seems old school but with modern materials it may be weight effective. Jon

Lawson

Go ask Gary what I'm talking about, like I asked you to in my post. He can easily prove the intentions of my post. Then come back here and apologize.

No, you never solicited advice from me, but yes I have offered it. You ask for allot of input over here.

If you had consulted your brother about the 7000 series aluminum tent stakes you were going to bend, you would have understood what I was telling you about how they would fail.

There was never a final price on the round chinese Ti rod I offered you. There could not have been, it would have been dependant on shipping and customs, two unknowns. I offered it at the request of someone else, by the way. If you had such a ready supply of cheap domestic round ti rod, why were you out of stakes for so long? There are alot of people that get allot of things from me or TiGoat at cost, or very little over cost. We do this because we like to see people succeed in this industry. I'm pretty sure the conversation on the chinese Ti rod turned to you, trying to sell me titanium. Never mind that we buy around one half ton of titanium a year.

Go ask your dad and brother why that rod should not be used for grills. We all know what my dad does for a living, and my brother builds ski lifts. Does that make me an expert on ski lifts? no, my experience is singularly my own.

As for "Drama", that is a little tame compared to what some folks call me. I think everyone pretty well knows that I'm out of line. Thats not news, thats like calling the sky blue. I stand by what I wrote.

Remember, YOU were soliciting input, as usual.

Do us all a favor and go find another forum to harass..

Hi Jon,

I like your tripod idea. Its oldschool but cool. I actually always wondered why no one offered such a product. I am going to look into this : ) Thanks Man.. Lawson

Lawson

I liked your long winded post better, why did you edit it? Cant stand by your words?

YOU are soliciting input, I offered it. People suggested a Ti grill. I did two things, pointed them to one that is already made by me, and pointed you to information about why you should not use the ti you have for grills. I did both in good faith.

I'm still waiting for my apology? You calling someone a "peddler" here, is akin to the pot calling the blue kettle, black.

Josh and Lawson — I have a feeling that after all this, you two are going to end up friends. At least I hope so. Both of you are pretty cool hikers and gear makers!

I built a few prototype grills today. They measure 12" long x 6" wide and weigh 2oz on the dot. They use a .125" rim and .093" cross bars and are built from the super strong 6AL-4V.. I am going to extensively test them over the next couple months and then make them available in the very near future. Thanks, Lawson

Lawson

OK, I tried to be nice about this. But that goes against my nature anyway.

Product warning: Do not buy these grills, they will fail. The problem with using 6-4 for applications with elevated heat are numerous. First off, the aluminum in the alloy will go to oxide at ~425*, this will weaken the rod. While 6-4 has a working temp of up to 400*, that does not take into account open flames. Its the combination of vanadium and aluminum that make 6-4 strong, not just one or the other by itself. Oxidizing the aluminum is worse than never having it in there in the first place. Second, as you heat cycle these things over and over again, they will become brittle. failure times will vary, and are tempature and duration dependant. This is something of a wildcard with a grill, since everyone will use it differently. Titanium is a very reactive metal, when alloyed, this has dire consequences, when alloys are misapplied. By placing a flame to the 6-4, it will begin to imbrittle, due to the reaction of the alloy with oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and other elements. This progresses, and compounds, over time. This is why 6-4 has to be welded in an atmosphere, and why other alloys are preffered where extensive welding is required. 6-4 is also heat treatable, this must be done in a vacuum or atmosphere also. Lawson, have you ever welded titatium, or heat treated it? I have, I used to over see a heat treat department, among other things. We did NDT, had a full metrology lab, composition analysis, etc. etc. We did work for the medical industry, aerospace industry, military, firearms industry, auto industry, and the nuclear industry. I was THE R&D guy. Have you ever built anything that goes into the core of a nuclear reactor?, I have. Ever put anything is space?, I have. This kind of stuff is fundamentally basic in comparison to any of that. You dont even have the basics.

I'm still waiting for my apology.