Titanium Buy to Fly Calculator
In titanium the bar is a large part of the price, and most of it can end up as swarf. Put your part in and see how much stock it needs before anybody quotes it.
Result
This is geometry, not a quote. It assumes the part is machined from solid and that the stock is cut to the bounding box plus allowance. Real stock comes in discrete sizes, so your shop will round up to what exists.
How to read the number
Buy to fly is stock weight divided by part weight. It tells you how much of what you pay for leaves as swarf, which in titanium is where a surprising share of the price sits.
| Ratio | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 to 1 | Efficient. The part is close to the stock shape. | Nothing. Material is not your problem here. |
| 3 to 8 | Normal for machined from solid. | Ask what stock size the shop priced. A different diameter can help. |
| 8 to 15 | High. Material is a major line in the quote. | Ask about plate instead of bar, or a smaller starting size. |
| Over 15 to 1 | Most of the bar is becoming chips. | On a repeating part, price a near net forging against the machining saving. |
A high ratio is not automatically wrong. On a quantity of five, machining from solid usually still beats the tooling cost of a forging. The ratio tells you how much is at stake, and quantity tells you whether it is worth chasing. The cost guide covers the other four lines in a titanium quote.
Questions about buy to fly
What is a buy to fly ratio?
The weight of stock you buy divided by the weight of the finished part. A ratio of 8 to 1 means eight kilos of bar bought for every kilo that ships, and in titanium the other seven kilos are an expensive pile of chips.
What is a good buy to fly ratio for a titanium part?
Under about 3 to 1 is efficient and usually means the part is close to the stock shape. Between 3 and 8 is normal for machined-from-solid work. Above 10 it is worth asking whether a different stock form, a plate instead of a block or a near net forging would cost less overall.
Does a lower buy to fly ratio always mean a cheaper part?
No. A forging has tooling cost and lead time of its own, and a near net shape can be harder to hold in a fixture. The ratio tells you how much money is sitting in the chip bin. Whether it is worth chasing depends on quantity, and the shop quoting it can tell you.
Why does this calculator not show a price?
Because we do not hold verified, current titanium price data, and publishing a number we cannot source would break our own editorial standards. Stock weight is the input your shop or distributor needs. They have today’s price per kilo.
Know the stock weight. Now get it priced.
Send the part and we introduce you to shops that cut this grade now. They will tell you what stock they would buy, which is usually where the saving is.