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Thread: Why the Titanium eyewear is expensive?

  1. #1
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    Why the Titanium eyewear is expensive?

    Titanium eyewear is in fashion now, because titanium eyewear has many excellent properties

    1, light weight, about 40% lighter than stainless steel eyewear and nickel silver eyewear.

    2, High hardness, about twice hardness to other metal eyewear such as stainless steel eyewear and four times hardness to ordinary nickel silver eyewear, In the cryogenic world, titanium eyewear has become more hard, and have the properties of superconductors, the stainless steel eyewear becomes weak and incompetent.

    3, Corrosion-resistant, won’t rust. Titanium eyewear won’t rust soak in the sea water for 5 years, stainless steel eyewear must corrosion in sea water.

    4, Touches and feeling good, Titanium eyewear warm and silky to the touching, other metal eyewear has cold metallic feeling.

    5, No skin allergy, titanium eyewear does not produce allergic reactions to humans skins, also titanium is used in human body, such as artificial teeth, artificial bones.

    Titanium eyewear because of its light weight, corrosion resistance, and non-allergic quality features has becomes a new trend. But compared to other metal eyewear, acetate eyewear, titanium eyewear price is much higher.

    Why the Titanium eyewear is expensive?

    One reason is the current titanium raw material costs are too high

    The other reason is the production of titanium metal frames is very complex

    The production of titanium eyewear requires special processing equipment, special welding technology and electroplating technology, many high difficult and different processes with normal metal eyewear, so it with high production costs.

    With the emergence of new titanium eyewear production equipment, as well as the improvement of industry production and processing technology, titanium eyewear will become lower prices to a wider people.

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    1 kg of titanium = 56 USD. 1 Kg of Nickel Silver = 28 USD. 1 kg of titanium could make 15 pairs of frames depends on size and shape! 1kg of nickel silver crank out 8-9 pairs depends on size and shape! They should be about the same price...





    Quote Originally Posted by Aoker eyewear View Post
    Titanium eyewear is in fashion now, because titanium eyewear
    has many excellent properties

    1, light weight, about 40% lighter than stainless steel eyewear and nickel silver eyewear.

    2, High hardness, about twice hardness to other metal eyewear such as stainless steel eyewear and four times hardness to ordinary nickel silver eyewear, In the cryogenic world, titanium eyewear has become more hard, and have the properties of superconductors, the stainless steel eyewear becomes weak and incompetent.

    3, Corrosion-resistant, won’t rust. Titanium eyewear won’t rust soak in the sea water for 5 years, stainless steel eyewear must corrosion in sea water.

    4, Touches and feeling good, Titanium eyewear warm and silky to the touching, other metal eyewear has cold metallic feeling.

    5, No skin allergy, titanium eyewear does not produce allergic reactions to humans skins, also titanium is used in human body, such as artificial teeth, artificial bones.

    Titanium eyewear because of its light weight, corrosion resistance, and non-allergic quality features has becomes a new trend. But compared to other metal eyewear, acetate eyewear, titanium eyewear price is much higher.

    Why the Titanium eyewear is expensive?

    One reason is the current titanium raw material costs are too high

    The other reason is the production of titanium metal frames is very complex

    The production of titanium eyewear requires special processing equipment, special welding technology and electroplating technology, many high difficult and different processes with normal metal eyewear, so it with high production costs.

    With the emergence of new titanium eyewear production equipment, as well as the improvement of industry production and processing technology, titanium eyewear will become lower prices to a wider people.

  3. #3
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    Redhot Jumper Thank you Jerry............

    Quote Originally Posted by JERRY HUANG View Post

    1 kg of titanium = 56 USD. 1 Kg of Nickel Silver = 28 USD. 1 kg of titanium could make 15 pairs of frames depends on size and shape! 1kg of nickel silver crank out 8-9 pairs depends on size and shape! They should be about the same price...
    Thank you Jerry............I just learned something I never even thought about doing.

  4. #4
    What's up? drk's Avatar
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    I will say, as a dispenser, that titanium delivers the quality.

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    OptiBoardaholic OptiBoard Gold Supporter Mick's Avatar
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    I believe Aoker's comments were directed at extra processing and equipment costs. The raw material is double the cost, but a small consideration of manufacturing titanium eyewear. Look at the costs of lenses, the material cost of rx lenses is just pennies, but turning that blob of plastic into a lens one can improve their vision with requires many steps and specialized equipment.

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    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Also titanium isn't new. It's been around in the eyewear world in a big way for what...three decades? Longer?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Uilleann View Post
    Also titanium isn't new. It's been around in the eyewear world in a big way for what...three decades? Longer?
    From what I recall, titanium is a pain to work with, primarily because it likes to spontaneously combust in an oxygen environment before it reaches its melting point, a melting point of 3,000 degrees btw. I think it wasn't till the 50s that we were able to work with it and that was primarily for military applications(see SR-71 Blackbird). So, while titanium might be $56/kg. I am guessing that getting it into the shape of eyewear adds a significant amount to the cost.
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    Compulsive Truthteller OptiBoard Gold Supporter Uncle Fester's Avatar
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    Most anything is cheap at the "raw" level. My understanding, and this was especially true when titanium first came out, was the need for extremely high temperatures to make it malleable and it was difficult to make into small items like frame parts. For a while Marchon had one source in Japan with the kiln able to do this. The metal itself has poor tensile (a measure of brittleness) strength and after welding (it cannot be soldered) it must be annealed. Annealing is a process where the whole frame is reheated to its original temperature then also uniformly cooled for finishing/plating. This puts all the molecules back "in phase". When your super duper titanium frame breaks without cause it's because someone skipped or cheated this necessary process. There is no way we can know if this is being done properly. Edging to an exact size and not over-tightening screws is a must.

    I've always suspected this is why memory metal frames break in the middle of the bridge. Excepting of course when Junior plays with his glasses during boring social studies to see how far and often he can bend them;) I assume the manufacturer considers the cost of replacing under warranty versus the extra expense of making them right and lives with a certain percentage of defective frames.

    Jerry or anyone else- Please correct me if I'm wrong.

    Also- am I remembering correctly that the "memory" is produced by running a very high electric charge (ionization) through the titanium?
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 09-22-2016 at 11:32 AM. Reason: tweak...

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    Ghost in the OptiMachine Quince's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uncle Fester View Post
    Also- am I remembering correctly that the "memory" is produced by running a very high electric charge (ionization) through the titanium?

    I was always under the impression that flexibility comes from a composite- not pure titanium, and therefore not hypoallergenic.
    Have I told you today how much I hate poly?

  10. #10
    What's up? drk's Avatar
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    Which is heavier? A pound of iron or a pound of feathers?

    Which is most voluminous? A kg of titanium or a kg of nickel-silver or a kg of Cool-Whip?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Quince View Post
    I was always under the impression that flexibility comes from a composite- not pure titanium, and therefore not hypoallergenic.
    I believe you are right, pretty sure its a titanium nickel alloy that is being used in memory metal.
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    Compulsive Truthteller OptiBoard Gold Supporter Uncle Fester's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by drk View Post
    Which is heavier? A pound of iron or a pound of feathers?

    Which is most voluminous? A kg of titanium or a kg of nickel-silver or a kg of Cool-Whip?
    The Cool Whip will lose its volume fastest!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Quince View Post
    I was always under the impression that flexibility comes from a composite- not pure titanium, and therefore not hypoallergenic.
    That was my understanding as well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mervinek View Post
    That was my understanding as well.
    Same here. Its a very specific alloy ratio, if I'm not mistaken.

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    Titanium rods per gram is NOT expensive. Welding and casting titanium IS VERY difficult to do properly. Titanium and "Flex" metal ALWAYS breaks at the weld points. It is why high end titanium frames like Charmant are so well made and have higher price tags but you can get bargain box titanium frames with crappy welds.

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    Master OptiBoarder Mizikal's Avatar
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    It cost so much because people are willing to pay that much. Yes, the manufacturing of quality titanium is expensive but isn't any quality frame or product more costly to make? I think at the end of the day the consumer sets the price for it. Things only cost as much as people are willing to pay.

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