Help with Titanium Heat Treat Look Please

I have been designing and working on making a design of titanium lugs nuts that I like for about 4 months now. This has mainly taken so long cause I'm having to fit this in with school and working on my Z.

-I have them the shape I now want after 4 tries.
-I have the heat treatment pattern now how I want after 9 tries.
-I do not have the matte finish I I want on them though, and I am curious if any of you know how it is done. If you do, and your way works I'll give you for free a set of these lug nuts.

Basically, the way mine are now...when they are done getting milled, they obviously have a shiny look to them. Then I heat treat them and they are done. Everything looks great, but if there was a way I could have them matte finished instead, then heat treated, that would be awesome. It will look better, and bring out the color a lot more as well.

I assumed that etching the lugs with sandblasting or acid would do the job. After doing these processes to a lugnut, they were in fact matte finished, BUT when I then went to heat treat them, the treatment did everything very weird and did not make normal color bands.I have tried acid and/or sandblasting 6 different ways now, and now way works at all once the heat treatment is applied.

After talking to some people, I have come to the conclusion that campanies are attaining these matte looks by a coating on the surface, then hat treating that. I just don't know what that coating is.

If any of you all know what I mean, please do let me know, as I really do want to have these on my car. The glossy look does look great, but I know matte will be even better.

Thanks! Here pictures of what I am talking about.

I don' thavea picture o fmy exact lugs on this computer, so this will have to do.

Here is a glossy heat treated look (Not a fan of these colors but this pic will have to do)



Here is an example of a matte finished lugnut. Notice how much better the color is brought out.

I dearly wish that I could help. What a "great set of nuts". I hope you figure a way to lock them 'cause I could see them walking off by themselves, otherwise

Is there any way (this late in the game for you) to make the lug nuts 2 piece like the Project Kics neo chrono lug nuts? I ask because for those who have custom wheels, the 2 piece design works great in avoiding scratching the lug nut hole area where the lug nut sits. This is possible by having the top part (where you put the socket over to tighten the lug nut) turning and the bottom part (the part that sits in the lug nut hole area) stationary so it doesn't damage the wheel surface.

I'm still interested but this would be a big PLUS if you could incorporate it into the design. It would actually be the only 2 piece Ti lugnuts available so you've got an edge over the other designs.

Just a thought :smile:

No, due to a major cost increase as well as more things to go wrong. I'd like to keep something as important as a lug nut as simple as possible in design. I have nice custom wheels as well on my cars, but it doesn't matter if the lugs rub on the wheel where they sit...that part is covered anyways. Thanks for your input though, all of it is welcome.

Veleno said:

Is there any way (this late in the game for you) to make the lug nuts 2 piece like the Project Kics neo chrono lug nuts? I ask because for those who have custom wheels, the 2 piece design works great in avoiding scratching the lug nut hole area where the lug nut sits. This is possible by having the top part (where you put the socket over to tighten the lug nut) turning and the bottom part (the part that sits in the lug nut hole area) stationary so it doesn't damage the wheel surface.

I'm still interested but this would be a big PLUS if you could incorporate it into the design. It would actually be the only 2 piece Ti lugnuts available so you've got an edge over the other designs.

Just a thought :smile:

Click to expand...

i am in no way qualified or have the knowledge to point you in the right direction, but have some questions.

for sand blasting, what type of media size were you using? i would assume the heat treatment pattern is being effected because of the size of the dimples on the surface. possibly a more fine media blast would distort the heat treatment color bands less...

there was recently a topic somewhere on nsxprime about a very very fine media blast used on very delicate parts such as crankshaft journals and wrist pins that allowed oil to be held better, while also strengthening the part. if i can find the thread, i'll link it here but i'm not sure what to look for since i do not remember the name of the process.

i do not believe that a coating would aid the color banding consistency because most coatings would just burn off with the heating process.

i'll do some more reading on titanium since it is a pretty awesome material.

broinkrist said:

i am in no way qualified or have the knowledge to point you in the right direction, but have some questions.

for sand blasting, what type of media size were you using? i would assume the heat treatment pattern is being effected because of the size of the dimples on the surface. possibly a more fine media blast would distort the heat treatment color bands less...

there was recently a topic somewhere on nsxprime about a very very fine media blast used on very delicate parts such as crankshaft journals and wrist pins that allowed oil to be held better, while also strengthening the part. if i can find the thread, i'll link it here but i'm not sure what to look for since i do not remember the name of the process.

i do not believe that a coating would aid the color banding consistency because most coatings would just burn off with the heating process.

i'll do some more reading on titanium since it is a pretty awesome material.

Click to expand...

We used very fine media...that's why I'm so confused to be honest.

The media you are talking about is the WPC process. I know about it b/c I am using it currently on the new motor I am building for my Z. At around $500 to do the camshaft and lifter surfaces and another $500 for crankshaft and bearings, it is not a cheap process at all and would not be useful in this application.

Thanks for the help though.

Titanium is one of the few metals that can be anodized (or colored) very simply by the use of electric current in a bath of water and common household ingredients (i.e. Borax or TSP).

You can achieve some really beautiful colors just by varying the voltage. You can create all kinds of cool patterns and fade effects by pulling the part out of the solution as you vary the voltage. And the titanium oxide that is left on the surface is very durable. It's not a coating but a change in the molecular surface.

You can Google on "anodized titanium" and look at the images. It's commonly used in jewelry, motorcycle exhausts, dental work and artwork.

Here are some links...

http://mrtitanium.com/anodizing.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Anodize-Titanium/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o64-ftFHhk

-Jim

Found out how to do it guys! The lug nuts are totally beautiful.

-They are getting tested for tensile and hardness currently
-In a month, I will have all 1000 of them sent out to be cryotreated, and they will be for sale.

Hope everyone enjoys them. They are by car the best in looks wise, strength, testing, and quality over all other titanium lug nut companies out there.

Great news... but as someone mentioned are you planning to manufacture them with a key so they don't get removed/stolen? Also congrats to you for sticking with it and figuring out how to solve the problem. Very admirable.