Titanium Frame Construction

[progetto]

Hi Guy's,
Iv'e got a bug in my arse about building a Titanium frame for myself and wanted to start a thread about the pitfalls I might encounter along the way. The brains trust here is second to none and so was hoping to promote discussion on the do's and dont's to working with Ti. I've been building part time for over 20 years and built using steel, aluminium and carbon. I am self taught but have found places like frameforum and here invaluable for gathering insight and knowledge. I've always found the frame building community to be helpfull in sharing information and I for one really appreciate that.
OK, so here go's, I'll post up a question or two and see if we can't get the ball rolling. Litespeed used to spout about cutting bb threads post welding because of distortion in the shell,( I do this with aluminium but not steel) what do you all do here, use a threaded shell and chase and face post weld, how do the tools hold up to this? How important are heat sinks with titanium?
Feel free to jump in and ask your own questions, would be nice to keep this thread about construction methods.
Regards Bill

[VertigoCycles]

Bill,

I can only speak to what works for me.

Weld distortion of the BB shell is a non issue if you're doing it "right". If you're concerned about it, get one of the 1 5/8" O.D. shells from Paragon and it will further minimize the distortion. Super tight miters also keeps it from getting too oblong as does using a purged heatsink. If your tools are sharp and your BB isn't banana'd when you're done welding it you're unlikely to have major issues when chasing the BB.

I love heatsinks because they make a notable difference in how much distortion I get at the HT, ST and BB. I use them for the dropouts too to keep the insides of the hoods clean.

Weld up some practice pieces, show them to us and come back with more questions.

[Chauncey Matthews]

Are you keeping up with Rody? Well, you should be!
Groovy Cycleworks 330-988-0537