And a couple polls:
Where should the engraving be?
- Engraving Option A - Under the pad
- Engraving Option B - On the pad spokes
- Engraving Option C - At the bottom of the cup
0
voters
Should the units be serialized?
- Yes
- No
0
voters
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What software are you using?
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I’m currently using a program called Esprit
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This is Sexy
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I like this amount of detail. I enjoyed the read
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Oh I meant that the system literally just said “no” when I tried to submit it. The only way it let me was by chopping it up 
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Looking good! 
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Thinnest profile is 0.45mm as designed. I’m rather pleased at how well it’s held up.
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Brief update, I’ve got 50Lb of Ti to process
Now the cutting can start. Gonna start by processing everything I’m gonna need to preform stock.
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So. Got to practice a bit of anodization. Gotta figure out a foolproof way to make sure no bubbles get trapped still, and my degreasing could probably use some work, but good lord do I get some nice colors. Definitely a good start for the Queens.
I also had a bit of a breakthrough with making things a bit more stable: stress relief. Don’t get me wrong, the Bee is pretty damn stable as-is. Responsives don’t necessarily need to be the smoothest things in the world, but I still like to make things nice and smooth regardless. Titanium is finicky, though, and I figure that there’s always improvement that can be made.
When a piece of raw metal is made, it’s hot. Like really hot. Even after it’s solid, it’s usually still hot enough that the crystalline structure of the material is still in flux. As it cools, different sections have a tendency to cool at different rates. Maybe one end is on the ground or in a puddle, maybe there’s a breeze that hits one side better than the other, maybe it’s tossed into a quenching bath and the Leidenfrost effect keeps the liquid from cooling everything evenly. Whatever the case, that crystalline structure has to really freeze at some point. Since various portions are cooling at different rates, different pieces solidify at different times and into different forms. It’s not often that the different frozen pieces fit together nicely, either, which means that there’s a fair bit of force pushing those different sections against each other. In some cases, those stresses can even be extreme enough to crack the material. When the material is prepped for sale, whether that’s by rolling, grinding, cutting, or forging, those stresses kinda balance out. The shape you get is probably gonna be pretty straight, pretty round, pretty flat, pretty much the shape you’re after.
Now. Problem is you gotta get rid of some material . Usually you’re gonna make things pretty thin. You get rid of a lot of those crystal formations, you get rid of a lot of those stresses. Problem there is that you don’t know where those formations or stresses lie and you don’t know how they’re balanced. You’re gonna unbalance something somewhere. You can’t avoid it. You’re working with a flat plate? No you’re not. You’ve got a potato chip as soon as you release your clamps. you’re working with a straight shaft? No you’re not. It flexed while you were cutting and now you’ve got either a taper or a very wobbly form.
With yoyos, you’re looking for a perfectly circular ring at the rim. Except that as soon as I unclamp the yoyo, that ring is gonna flex, and it’s VERY unlikely to flex evenly. It’s not gonna flex much, maybe .001-.003 inch, but it’s enough. You’re not gonna have something perfectly circular anymore, and that eccentricity is gonna mean it’s gonna kick up some vibration at yoyo speeds. It can be string vibe, pulse vibe, or in super lucky cases it can just be some more noticeable than normal nail vibe. UNACCEPTABLE. Gotta fix it. Conventionally, you’d machine the cup and the profile in one go. Take rough cuts to form the yoyo, then go back and forth with shallower cuts to slowly release those forces and reduce the amount of extra stress you’re creating with the machining. Not an option for me because I’d waste more stock than I could afford. So what to do?
Make some metal muffins. At 1000-1200F. This isn’t enough to melt it, change the crystal structures, or even really move them around all that much. But it is enough to allow the pressure where the crystal structures are pressing against one another move the boundaries of the crystals juuuuuuuuuust enough to release most or all of the internal stresses.
In titanium, that kind of temperature also produces some pretty colors:
Best part is that it worked! These pieces came out smoother than any other titanium I’ve cut. Definitely something I’ll work into the process of the Queens. Should improve people’s experience using it for 1A!
TL;DR: I’m practicing making metal pretty. Metal likes to warp because it’s anxious about existence and has a lot of internal conflict and struggle. A lot of people massage the stress away, but I figured out that I can just toss it in the sauna. Less stressed material means it’s more effective in more situations.
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Fr tho, I feel blessed that you’re cataloging your experience
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Yeah, reading all these detailed posts about the machining process (with accompanying photos too!) is really fun and interesting.
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Metal muffins. Took me a moment lol
I mean I’m having fun stretching my capabilities and learning new techniques. Half of the reason I started doing all this was to get better as a machinist! If I can leave behind info for other curious people that’s not quite as arcane as the sources I’m needing to learn from, so much the better.
I’ve had a few people on other forums actually notice that I tend to share what I learn pretty much everywhere I go. One guy on a machining forum actually started asking questions about the stuff I’ve posted on Reddit 
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I died while reading this 
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Can attest to how smooth these came out, very excited to see Queen Bee!
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It might be just me, but I would pay extra just to have a booklet with the whole manufacturing proccess you’re sharing here. Just as you are writing it here.
I might not understand 60% of what you’re saying but it’s still fascinating, even when you use words that are reserved for the profession!
The anodized pieces you have there makes me hope for an anodized Queen Bee hehe. They look just… beautiful. ./cheffs_kiss
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