How to solder, weld, fasten Titanium -- especially eyeglass frames

A. It is not possible to solder titanium-- you can weld it but under very special conditions.

A. I think there is a problem with terminology-- frames for eyeglasses are brazed not soldered, since the temperature exceeds 450 °C. Titanium in the presence of any oxygen forms a tightly adherent oxide layer, which impairs joining by brazing, welding, etc. Therefore, titanium is brazed in an argon atmosphere, without a flux, using different types of filler metal. There is a good description of the technology in a technical paper from Nippon Steel, one of the leading producers of titanium alloy products. Use the following link for more information:
http://www.nsc.co.jp/gikai/en/contenthtml/n62/6205.pdf ⇩

[Ed. update: The above link is broken. Thankfully, the Internet Archive preserved a copy here
These days information often appears on the internet, then simply disappears forever. If that is a concern to you please consider a donation to The Internet Archive.

A. Hinges are probably spot welded. Process is same as for other metals. For more info try Titanium.org web site. Good luck!

A. The following link will get you to a company that has all that you need to begin repairing or building Titanium frames:
www.arkhe.net/en/ ⇩

I am seeking somebody who currently does Titanium Eyeglass repair and came upon it. Anybody reading this with helpful info, please respond.

Cheers,

Ed. note Feb. 2017: Although that link still leads to a supplier of titanium, we see no technical articles on their site anymore. Posters: most links break quickly, inconveniencing a dozen readers for each one the link helped. So please try to include the titles/authors of suggested articles so we can try to find them when the links break :-)

A. There is a guy in Colorado Springs Colorado doing business as "Eyewear Repair" his shop is on "Galley" (no street, avenue, road, etc. just "Galley") He does amazing work and has made strong, long lasting repairs to several pairs of Titanium and Titanium alloy eye glass frames over the past 20 years. Hunt him down, he has knowledge worth knowing!

A. We can solder Titanium frames. We use CO2 laser in argon atmosphere to do it. The equipment can be used in dental labs, too.

A. I have just finished soldering a broken hinge of a Flexon bow. I used silver-bearing solder and plain yellow flux paste. I am not a jeweler in any way, and have no prior experience doing this, other than general electronics/PCB soldering.

A. I am a Jeweler. I just broke both hinges off of the ear wires on a pair of Titanium glasses. I used my handy dandy oxy-acetylene Smith Little Torch ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , HandyFlux ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , and jewelers Easy Flo silver solder ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] to braze the hinge pieces back on the ear wires. Very strong solder.

Thank You, Publishers, for adding the Hyperlinks to my response. I must say, 'Grobet', is a major Jeweler Supply Company, that carries quality supplies. But, I prefer Cadmium-free silver solder

Dave Bender [returning]
dfb Creations LLC - Friendswood, Texas
March 25, 2010

Hi, Dave. Thanks for your instructions! (The hyperlinks are both for the readers' convenience [if we look things up once, it saves 500 readers from having to each look them up], and for our own benefit [we may get a commission if readers buy the product from the source we've linked to]).

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 25, 2010

Hi thank you so much for the info, my son just mangled my Oakleys this morning. So out with my oxy torch as low as I could get to with some silver solder and Harris stay silv white flux ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] . Filed the area, and very importantly cleaned the area with some degreasing all purpose cleaner. Just fluxed, heated the area and dabbed some silver in place and used the heat carefully allow the silver to distribute. Quick filing and almost good as new, and most importantly silver joints are quite strong. Again thanks for the info, very simple repair.

A. The PUK 3S High Precision Welder ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] is much less expensive than a laser and will weld titanium as well as many other metals including jewelry metals.

A. I used hot glue. Two days later still holding.

A. You can TIG weld titanium; according to some sources it can be soldered too, but it is not simple. German PUK 5 precision TIG welder ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and US made Orion precise TIG welder ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] are two brands. Reactive metals studio sells jewelry grade titanium sheet and wire (www.reactivemetals.com/titanium). Hope it helps and good luck!