Anodizing Niobium and Titanium

I am exploring anodizing niobium and titanium, lots of fun so far. I do find myself getting frustrated with not being able to solder and finish the way that I do silver and gold, but the colors are a lot of fun to plan and watch develop. I have found that I can solder smaller pieces with my PUK. I would be interested in hearing what others have to say about working with reactive metals. Thanks…Rob

I don’t know about Niobium, but Titanium needs an inert atmosphere at all times when melted (Ar).

As long as that is taken care of, it should weld like butter with a TIG (PUK is a TIG I believe),
I have not done soldering.
Any exposure to Oxygen and it need to be ground or cleaned back to pure clean metal again.

What I have had to deal with them, has been positive. I bought a lot of those small titanium disc’s from them. I set the anodizer to increasing 10.0 voltage steps for each disc. That way I had a road map of the colors my machine would produce. Get ready to learn to rivet or set the anodized pieces in other metals I’ve toyed with cutting channels in square wire so I can limit the mount of riveting I would have to do. Think of the titanium as a gemstone. You just have to get creative with it. Check out how people have worked with it on Pinterest. Have fun.

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My PUK has an Argon shielding gas that allows me to weld both titanium and nobium. My bigger challenge is that I want to finish these pieces the same way that I would silver. They don’t finish well. I have tried abrasive rubber wheels, white diamond and tripoli cutting compound and many grit level sanding pads and expansion wheels. I have yet to really try tumbling. I guess that I may have to accept a less than high polished finish. I have completely removed the colored finish a couple times, so I know how to start over. Thanks for the help…Rob

Hi Rob,

I remember seeing polished titanium on Hans Meevis’ website. He has polishing instructions here, near the end:

There are other examples of his work:

Neil A

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Neil…I enjoy looking at Hans’ work and tutorials. I apparently missed this one. Thanks for sharing it…Rob