Dull drills and titanium sheet

[tceisele]

So. Did you know that if you have a piece of titanium sheet, and you want to drill a hole in it, and the drill you choose is a bit on the dull side, and you don't use any lubricant because hey, it's only 1/16 inch thick so how hard can it be, and you put it in the drill press and keep bearing down on it figuring that it will have to go through *

Comments

[isherempress]

Why do I think that Guy could have told you that?

Uh, even so, that was a fascinating report from your workshop, Tim. Way to go! (I think). Now why do I think Tullio would enjoy that so much...

[tullio42]

But how does burning titanium

[tullio42]

… compare with burning magnesium?

[tceisele]

The bright white-heat of the burning metal is pretty comparable. The titanium seems to be self-limiting, though - it went out right away as soon as the bead of burning metal dropped through the sheet. I suspect that a similarly-sized sheet of magnesium would have kept right on burning.