Another titanium Captain America shield... maybe.

For a movie accurate, bullet proof titanium shield, I would be very interested in purchasing that, even considering your high cost of production.


Grade 5 is the same as 6Al 4V. In order to get the best properties out of it, you need to heat treat it though. Grade 2 is a pure titanium, not an alloy like 6Al 4V, so it can't be heat treated and will never be as strong. Still seems to do the trick though. I have not made a grade 5 round version yet, as the material and spinning costs would be well over 2 grand or more.
 
For a movie accurate, bullet proof titanium shield, I would be very interested in purchasing that, even considering your high cost of production.

Yeah, it just seems like one of those high end sort of items that you see on geekologie and just know people are falling out of office chairs reaching for wallets.
 
Yeah it's one of those high end items that I have to tell my wife it only cost $100 bucks and I got a really great deal. And being a quality, bulletproof shield it would serve well in the zombie apocalypse, or any apocalypse of some sort. lol. Thank god for talented, resourceful, dedicated people like you for aspiring to make such great items that otherwise would not be available.

Yeah, it just seems like one of those high end sort of items that you see on geekologie and just know people are falling out of office chairs reaching for wallets.
 
Awesome... I work at those companies currently, been here for 11 years now. (Honeywell and Allied merged)

I would be real careful of the ti coming from China, I know they've shipped a bunch grade 5, and it turned out to not be grade 5 at all, but some random alloy that didn't have the equivalent properties.

The major cost driver on the spinnings is due to the process and because the process is so intensive, most spinning shops require a minimum order because they won't do just a few. Again, I honestly think grade 2 is more than capable as it is. Still difficult to get good spinnings though.

Yeah, I've been working with the stuff for years so I'm pretty familiar with most of the alloys. Used to be a machinist for a company that made parts for Allied Signal and Honeywell. Now it's just a hobby making sculptures and jewelry from ebay scrap. 2 grand for spinning is bad news, I may never get a round grade 5 done at that price. I'm waiting on quotes from several Chinese companies for grade 5 dish vessel heads but something about a Captain America shield being made in china just seems downright wrong to me.

But there's some good news on the titanium horizon, New Titanium Refining Process Promises Lower Costs and More Efficient Processing | Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Stainless, Rare Earth, Metal Prices, Forecasting | MetalMiner
 
Hi folks. I signed up to come here and get some input on a project from people who know before I get started on it. I'll try to keep is short and see how much interest there is before I bother to go into too much detail. I am completely serious about this so bear with me.

I want to make a titanium Cap shield but I'm thinking of doing the older heater shield because it's just so much cooler and best of all much more doable. I saw the thread on the titanium shield that a member here made but can't see the pics so I don't know how that turned out. I've been working with titanium for years and I knew the problem he had before he even described it. Titanium doesn't like to draw which is basically bending in all directions. Also, the pure grade 2 stuff isn't much harder than hard brass and there are alloys of aluminum that would offer more protection. Still, it's an awesome idea that I can't get out of my head so I have to do it.

The heater shield only curves in one direction which means that I can do it with rollers with no problem but I can also use 6AL4V titanium for a lot tougher shield. I'm thinking 2mm thick and if my math is correct (and it always is) the rectangle I would need to cut a 19x26" shield from would weight just under 6.5 pounds before I even cut the shape. The curve would strengthen it considerably and at that weight I am also thinking about laminating some carbon fiber and ballistic Kevlar to the backside to stiffen it up beyond belief along with a backer of tight weave Kevlar or Nomex to give a nice padded surface.

And all of that was enough to make me think the project was worth taking on but here's where I got really excited about it. I searched for pics and liked this style the most, http://www.sideshowtoy.com/mas_assets/jpg/9000661_press05-001.jpg

Then I came across this picture, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/1974ComicArtCon_book.jpg
and I like the pointer design. But something cool occurred when I noticed the way he was holding it like the arm straps were at a 90 degree angle to the usual way they would be mounted so the shield would cover most of the torso. I thought, "dang, that would make quite an offensive weapon. I bet that would knock a few teeth out if you wanted to." So I considered mounting the straps that way on a slightly pointier shield.

Then I thought about having it both ways. What if the arm straps were mounted on a very sturdy titanium and carbon fiber pivot that would unlock with the push of a thumb lever so it could be quickly snapped into either position? Better offensive capability than simply throwing the thing and hoping it finds it way back to you. Awesome. I'm going to do that!

One final thought before I wrap this up. Titanium will blue anodize very easy and red can be done under very controlled conditions. I could skip the paint job and anodize the stars and stripes right to the metal. It would have that cool metallic look of the movie version.

So here's the plan and it goes far beyond just one shield.

1. Get as much input from real Cap. fans as I can since I'm new to him. I'm a Batman guy and always have been and Captain America was never on my radar until I saw the movies. Movie Captain was just so awesome that I really took notice and my interest in WW2 history made the whole thing very fun for me.

2.Settle on a final design and build it as best I can. I have carbon fiber and kevlar from other projects so I can do the several layers of kevlar that would make this thing undoubtedly handgun bullet proof with 2mm of 6-4 titanium bonded to it. I have $500 to put into this so I may play around with the ti weight calculator and go with something thicker if the weights come out right. How much should Cap's shield weigh? I assume it's rather heavy and his strength lets him handle it the way he does.

3. Make it unbelievably awesome and put it up for sale on ebay. How much would something like this go for with nice aluminum ones selling for a few hundred? I don't know but it'll have to be worth the materials cost and then some.

4. Use that money to buy materials to make and sell several more until I have enough to...

5. Contact a maker of titanium pressure vessels and see if they can provide some 6-4 vessel heads of the right thickness, diameter and dish depth. Then I can make movie accurate versions from a good durable alloy of titanium. Just out of curiosity, would a flat round shield interest anyone or is the dish an absolute requirement?

7. And the ultimate goal and real reason I'm doing this, make enough money to fund the build of a kevlar Batsuit with carbon kevlar armor plates using multiple layers of black kevlar cut resistant sleeve material. But that's a whole different post.

Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to get in on this conversation and help me out with some Marvel knowledge.
I was curious last month about making a complete armour of Titanium, that quickly changed after i requested a quote 96"×36"×0.063". I was quoted $7,300+taxes per sheet of the same grade that you mentioned. But it did come with free shipping...
 
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