I'd like to do some titanium work, and have been reading about the material, but know neither a good (i.e. inexpensive) source of titanium or which alloy might be the most machinable. OnlineMetals offers 6AL/4V ELI, 6AL/4V GRADE 5, and CP GRADE 2 with the latter running $135/foot in 1" diameter bar.

Can anyone offer advice? Thanks.

Titanium is up about 50% this year. We machine 6AL/4V here on occasion.

I think we just placed our order for 2007. That is how far out deliveries are for some sizes.

6Al4V machines well if you use the proper tools and speeds - the handbook speeds work well. The varous suffixes probably denote purity and/or cert level.

There are thousands of engine valves made of it for racing so it is pretty easy to come by. Saw it once referred to "as the 4140 of titanium".

Inexpensive titanium is an oxymoron. Virgin material is most pricey, remelt alloy is typically "cheaper" as in less expensive. Most anything is/has to be certified as it is an aircraft/super alloy so the cost is going to be high - it is in the material's DNA.

check mcmaster carr for small lengths of different shapes and sizes

Poor choice of words on my part. I don't expect titanium to be "inexpensive".

That's odd. In 1" diameter rod 1' long, Online Metals has Grade 2 at $134 while McMaster has it at $181. For Grade 5, Online Metals is $188 while McMaster is $138. Seems like this must be some kind of pricing error.

Not necessarily. They might be getting better pricing due to a quantity buy or or offering pricing to clear out the stock of "drops" or whatever.

We see this sort of deal a lot when we shop for tool steel prices.

Call, get it quoted, buy it at the quoted price and don't waste time trying to figure it out.

Maybe the later they have not bought since the price increase may check with a phone call or web page and find the two comparible. We have experanced a large increase this year in automotive part's. I have a mill surplus store near me and every once and a while they will have some kind of airplane part made out of titanium. also a lot of computer's moniters ect. Kevin

if you feel mcmaster has an error in their pricing give em a call, they are good to work with. msc has a lot of material too, i use em both, as well as local and natl metals vendors. often depends on the quantity of the buy who will have best price. fer instance marmon keystone a tubing supplier has good pricing, but the minimum sales order they will cut is around $200

Thanks all for the information!