Ampt Engineering - Ti pedals

Dales Cannon

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Ampto said:
I wish, the casting is being done by a specialist, way out of my depth, titanium is highly reactive and there are only a handful of places around the world that have the equipment to do it. If you‘re curious, check out how it is refined, it‘s even more involved.
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Can you share what you are paying for raw casting stock? I know the prices for Ali, sus, brass, cu etc. Curious is all.
 
Ampto

Ampto

Squid
Dales Cannon said:
Can you share what you are paying for raw casting stock? I know the prices for Ali, sus, brass, cu etc. Curious is all.
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Foundry is looking after that and I can‘t see what they are charging me for the raw material, just the material spec and test reports is visible to me. Last time raw stock (not mill stock) was something like $40-50USD/kg and mill stock varied a lot depending on size. For the spindles, it was about $10AUD a spindle raw material, considering the spindle is only 32 grams, thats around $300AUD/kg for mill stock :eek:.
 
Ampto

Ampto

Squid
Stredda said:
Had to check that out on my phone. Work web protection seemed to think it had something to do with alcohol and tobacco. :oops:
View attachment 408680
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Lol, some of my previous work colleagues have the same issue, I don't know what is flagging it, I've submitted a request to Sophos, still isn't fixed yet. They must think I'm on drugs.

Ultra Lord said:
These are really cool. Makes me want to build a titanium hardtail to bolt them to.
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I approve of this

I'm also getting some titanium bash plates made that I'll be running a giveaway promotion on when I receive the first batch. Something low-cost that I can start using to gain more of a brand presence, since the other items in development like the pedals and stem will take some time to validate with testing etc fully. The giveaway will be on Instagram, so look for that in the next few months if you're interested. If your bike has an ISCG 05 mount, you're laughing. Instagram Linky

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Piccy from the business end of the pedal, had a few riders give them a good bash at Harcourt Vic, and so far all positive feedback. Once I have a bit more confidence I'll find someone a bit more RedBull to give them a go, my skill level is not good enough to push them to their limits lol.
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dancaseyimages

dancaseyimages

Mountain bike pornographer
Ampto said:
Lol, some of my previous work colleagues have the same issue, I don't know what is flagging it, I've submitted a request to Sophos, still isn't fixed yet. They must think I'm on drugs.



I approve of this

I'm also getting some titanium bash plates made that I'll be running a giveaway promotion on when I receive the first batch. Something low-cost that I can start using to gain more of a brand presence, since the other items in development like the pedals and stem will take some time to validate with testing etc fully. The giveaway will be on Instagram, so look for that in the next few months if you're interested. If your bike has an ISCG 05 mount, you're laughing. Instagram Linky

View attachment 409108

Piccy from the business end of the pedal, had a few riders give them a good bash at Harcourt Vic, and so far all positive feedback. Once I have a bit more confidence I'll find someone a bit more RedBull to give them a go, my skill level is not good enough to push them to their limits lol.
View attachment 409110
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Looks good keep us updated. Would be very keen on the bash guard when it comes out!
 
S

sebbyreddan

Likes Dirt
I had a set of Ti Spindle pedals from an un-named UK manufacturer snap at the spindle when taking off from the lights on the way home after a fairly un-eventful ride.
Spoke to the manufacturer, and they warrantied them straight away and also upgraded the axles to Beryllium copper alloy as they had had issues with the Ti fracturing with the repetitive strain (like the metal is work hardening).
Apart from this potential issue I like the look of these and they are nice and low profile, which is the one thing I don't like about my current pedals.

Edit...Looking at the first photo, these seem a little bit beefier than the ones I snapped, so hopefully you don't have the same issues.
 
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Ampto

Ampto

Squid
sebbyreddan said:
I had a set of Ti Spindle pedals from an un-named UK manufacturer snap at the spindle when taking off from the lights on the way home after a fairly un-eventful ride.
Spoke to the manufacturer, and they warrantied them straight away and also upgraded the axles to Beryllium copper alloy as they had had issues with the Ti fracturing with the repetitive strain (like the metal is work hardening).
Apart from this potential issue I like the look of these and they are nice and low profile, which is the one thing I don't like about my current pedals.

Edit...Looking at the first photo, these seem a little bit beefier than the ones I snapped, so hopefully you don't have the same issues.
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I hope so too haha, it's stories like this that got me interested in designing these in the first place

It's interesting to see some of the discourse that goes on with titanium in MTB land, it's got a bad rap for sure. I've seen a few examples of broken titanium spindles around the interwebs with various claims made, so it's a mess really. There are so many different titanium alloys and processes that can impact the material properties that I see much misinformation getting thrown around. For instance, google the difference between the grades of titanium, then have a look at how different annealed, stress relieved and/or solution-age treatments impact titanium's properties. You'll see titanium can vary from basically expensive playdough up to a material that is superior to some high-tensile steel alloys in strength, crack resistance, fatigue resistance, etc. Some properties you can't change, like stiffness, that is where you need to be more careful with the design etc.

From an engineering point of view, some of those failures make zero sense to me if they are using the alloys and processes claimed. My suspicion is, that maybe they have sourced "titanium" of some description, copied a steel spindle design with minimal thought or oversight and slapped some buzzwords on their marketing. Who knows? But, I could be an idiot too, the proof is in the pudding, I'm setting up a fatigue test rig that I'll put through a million odd cycles, at working loads that exceed the ISO testing guidelines. If they pass with flying colors, I'll be confident I have something of value. Definitely don't want spindles snapping at traffic lights!

PS, beryllium copper is an interesting choice for a spindle, its tensile strength is high, but its fatigue strength is relativity low and almost the same density as steel, weird that they didn't go (back)/to a steel axle. Not saying it's going to be an issue, it's just a curious choice.
 
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