Drilling out Form 1 suppressor end cap?

[IndyPb]

Since I’m stuck in the house I figured I’d give building my own Form 1 suppressor a shot. Went with an all titanium build, but after reading probably too much info online about the perils of drilling titanium...should I find a machine shop around Indy to do it? Is that something they would even do? It’s such a small job if you know what you’re doing...

Or am I being paranoid and I should just do it myself? I got predrilled baffles, so this is really the only thing I need to do.

 

[patience0830]

Tell me more. Just have some titanium laying around the house, didja?

 

[dieselrealtor]

Where did you get your kit?

Been looking into doing a form 1 project myself.

 

[IndyPb]

Yup, I’m a small time metal dealer. Lol.

This is the solid cap I ordered, it has an M5 hole taped that obviously doesn’t go all the way through. I suppose I can get some carbide bits and go size by size, or maybe a step bit. Grade 5, whatever that means...

https://www.hawkinnovativetech.com/...s-and-end-caps/b-size-titanium-solid-end-cap/

 

[IndyPb]

Quietbore seems like the easiest way, but it’s mostly aluminum, and for some reason I got it in my head to do titanium. So I’ve been piecing stuff together from SDTA and Hawk Innovative mostly.

 

[ljk]

Yup, I’m a small time metal dealer. Lol.

This is the solid cap I ordered, it has an M5 hole taped that obviously doesn’t go all the way through. I suppose I can get some carbide bits and go size by size, or maybe a step bit. Grade 5, whatever that means...

https://www.hawkinnovativetech.com/...s-and-end-caps/b-size-titanium-solid-end-cap/

I used the same end cap when I made mine.

It is very thick and heavy. I used a lathe to turn it down and in, to make a lip in order to remove as much material as possible.

 

[IndyPb]

Yeah, it’s definitely beefier than I expected. A lathe would make life easier.

 

[BR8818]

You can drill it I used M42 HSCO to drill my cones and cap go slow dont let it build heat titanium work hardens quick. It'll take awhile but you'll get it.

 

[Floivanus]

That’s going to be fun. When it comes to caps, cones whatever, you want the least amount of “tunnel” length as you can get, both for POI/accuracy issues and sound quality. That’s a lot of hogging out to do without a lathe. Even with one some of those end caps are a PITA with how much needs to be removed.

 

[STFU]

Since I’m stuck in the house I figured I’d give building my own Form 1 suppressor a shot. Went with an all titanium build, but after reading probably too much info online about the perils of drilling titanium...should I find a machine shop around Indy to do it? Is that something they would even do? It’s such a small job if you know what you’re doing...

Or am I being paranoid and I should just do it myself? I got predrilled baffles, so this is really the only thing I need to do.

I can tell you from direct experience that the task at hand is not as easy as you might think. I have a decent drill press and a machinists vise bolted to it.
The first issue is just centering the bit on the end cap properly. If is it off center, it will pull the rounds off at an angle as they leave the end cap. It will affect your accuracy greatly at 100 yards and beyond.
The second issue is holding the end cap steady. Ti is very hard to bore through on a drill press. The force required will often spin a round work piece in the vise unless you are using metal jaws on the end cap...and that will probably leave jaw marks on the edges or worse...the threads.
Third is the feed rate. You must use more pressure than you would use to drill SS but not so much that you smoke the bit. Even with oil or a lot of cutting fluid circulating, the work piece can heat up and essentially "self-temper" making it damn near impossible to make any progress.
The end cap I bought was center marked (small divot) but not pre-drilled. I had to go through .500 of Ti. I mounted the work piece between two pieces of 2x4 that had 1/2 moon shapes cut into them and clamped it down very tight in the machinists vise.
Using the travel adjustments to center it all up.

When I was done, the hole was off center, and I broken one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q6VDJVY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
At $62 each...I was not happy. I paid someone to machine (clean up) the end cap for me.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/pV0Tjrp


I suggest using the information over here to your advantage:
https://form1suppressor.boards.net/
There are some very smart folks on that forum when it comes to Form 1 builds.
Read the FAQ and look at the posts from Rusty. He knows what he is doing!