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Manufacturing Industry

Titanium metalworking opens new roads

Manufacturing Engineering, Jul 1998

Serendipity allowed this job-shop owner to turn a hobby into a business

If it wasn't for his bad knees, Dave Lynskey would never have developed and manufactured one of the world's premier titanium bicycles. Lynskey, president of Litespeed Titanium Bicycles, was a competitive runner in the '80s. After seven knee operations, his doctor said enough. As an alternative to running, Lynskey took up bicycling, becoming a competitive racer. Not satisfied with the bike frames available at the time, however, he had one of those "I can make it better ideas," and acted on it.

Lynskey's father and uncle started a metal fabricating business, Tennessee Machine, in a Chattanooga, TN suburb in 1962. One of their clients, a large chemical company, had them make large quantities of titanium parts.

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David Lynskey and his three brothers, Mark, Chris, and Tim, worked at the company and learned how to machine and fabricate titanium. After their father retired, the four brothers took over the company. In 1985, in his spare time, Lynskey acted on his "better idea," and built his first titanium bike frame. Then came a bit of luck: pioneering triathlete John Disterdick visited a friend who lived near the company. When they went to Lynskey's shop on an errand, the bike aroused his interest and he asked for one. Impressed with the new frame, he felt other triathletes would buy them, and he talked the Lynskey brothers into exhibiting at the 1986 Long Beach bike show, then the industry's largest.

Even though the show generated orders and a fair amount of interest, Lynskey still looked at building titanium frames as a sideline. As word spread, orders increased, and the brothers finally decided to switch to bike manufacturing. Titanium vs. Aluminum

When Lynskey rode bikes competitively, he used an aluminum frame to save weight. But Lynskey says aluminum has several problems. "Aluminum work hardens over time, which can cause stress cracking in the frame. To have the strength needed for a bike to survive, aluminum frames must be extremely rigid. But this rigidity also gives the bike a harsh ride, which tires out the rider quickly. That's why I tried a titanium frame," Lynskey explains.

Titanium is a very springy, lively metal and because of its strength, it absorbs road shock and vibration very well. Even though titanium is heavier than aluminum, Lynskey says designers need to beef up aluminum to get the same strength as titanium. Consequently, a titanium bike winds up lighter than an aluminum one. Titanium is very difficult to work with, he points out, and very expensive. "If you make a mistake, you've thrown away a lot of money. There's a certain way to work with it. That's why I demand quality control throughout the manufacturing process." Working with Titanium

A Litespeed frameset begins as a combination of US-made titanium tube, plate, and bar. The raw stock goes to the machine shop where more than 20 employees work with Mazak CNC machine tools and fabrication equipment.

To machine components like a bullet-shaped part that connects the rear frame tubes and axle drop-out (the piece that holds the rear axle and derailler), Lynskey uses a Mazak CNC Quick Turn 8N turning center and an AJV-18 horizontal machining center. For the axle drop-out and many other parts cut from solid plate or bar stock, the company recently purchased a new Mazak VTC-30 vertical machining center.

Although some of the parts look like they could be cast, saving valuable machining time, Lynskey says it costs more to cast them than to machine them from a solid plate or bar. Also, by keeping manufacturing in-house, the company can control quantity and part availability.

The company's new VTC-30C has a large table for multiple parts production. Four or five jobs can be set up on the table for fast machining and increased throughput. "The VTC-30C is large enough to make all the tooling, jigs, and fixtures we need up to a tandemsize bike," says Lynskey. "We machine parts and fixtures for the bike frames on this machine as well as smaller titanium parts. Minimum runs are usually about 500-600 parts." The TC-30C has a 78.7 X 29.9' (2.0 X 0.76 m) table and offers axis travels of 65" in X, 30' in Y and 26' in Z(1.67 x 0.76 X 0.66 m).

Because it uses a fixed table and traveling column, the machine reduces operator fatigue and allows accessibility for safe part loading and unloading. The VTC30C's large table can be used for single large-part production or for split or multiple parts. By taking advantage of a split-table setup, Litespeed can machine two or more parts at the same time (first and second operations or different operations on each split-table area.)

On one job, the axle drop-out, the operator mounts four pieces of 1/4" (6.4mm) titanium plate to the bed and machines multiple parts from each plate. Doing the job this way increases production, reduces setup time, and maximizes tool use. Redundant tools and tool management improve spindle uptime. If a tool goes beyond its wear limits, the controller automatically selects a redundant tool. The 15-hp (11.2-kW) spindle motor operates at a maximum speed of 8000 rpm.

Manufacturing Industry

Titanium metalworking opens new roads

Manufacturing Engineering, Jul 1998

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