Quark Ti and Al parts..mix and match?

Hey guys I did a quick search, but as you'd imagine searching various strings like "ti with al", "quark ti and aluminium" etc...gives me very little to go on and too much to read!

I'm just wondering if I can get a Ti AA tube and use it with an alloy head and tail? I kinda like the idea of a two-tone quark without the Ti head, which is poor at dissipating heat.

I've read that some of the Ti light's have rough threads, do you think mating Ti with Al would lead to smooth threads kinda like brass and Al?

galvanic corrosion possible? that was the discussion when the ti parts were released, but the preon seems to work fine.

Hmm, I thought as they were selling Al and Ti Preon's there'd be no issues.

My lack of knowledge on galvanic corrosion led me to do a quick bit of research and read some of the Quark Ti threads.

Cheers for that though, it'll be something I keep an eye on.
I doubt it'll be an issue, I did some chem at uni so my grasp on things is pretty good. I'd be inclined to believe it would corrode if it was in some sort of fluid electrolyte but just metal on metal I don't think will be a worry.

Can't the lube be a fluid electrolyte?

I'm just asking, because it's not metal on metal, unless you don't lube, which won't help for smooth threads... :candle:

Just dont lube it, keep it try (and dry it off quickly whenever it does get wet) and you'll be fine.....

Titanium and aluminium do indeed hate each other (alu being prone to corrosion and ti not so), but they do need an electrolyte like water (or even worse; salt water) or other chemicals, if that's no present you wont get any problems! If your AA ever decides to leak you're in real trouble by the way, quite possible it would fuse the parts solid in a matter of days with the alkali solution and other corrosion-prone metals present being the worst that can happen between the alu and ti.....

With bikes guys stick aluminum pieces on to titanium all the time.

GarageBoy said:

With bikes guys stick aluminum pieces on to titanium all the time.

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Is there any current flowing through these parts? Without any current, no galvanic corrosion...

I'm not going to care too much for it, I don't use alkaline so I don't think the issue of battery leakage is a big one to be concerned about.

I'll let you know how I go if I have any problems. Remember I wont be doing anything out of the ordinary for this light over any others. If 4sevens sells the Preon with Ti and Al I feel confident enough to do the same.

Interesting point about bikes though, I'm very serious about mountain biking, I'll have to ask around and see if they've had any issues with Ti on Al.
I've shocked my mates many times after hopping off as I've built up a charge. Also that's why dirt is attracted to the chain, the charge is attracting the dirt molecules.

Henk_Lu said:

Is there any current flowing through these parts? Without any current, no galvanic corrosion...

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You sure you need current? The statue of liberty had no current going through it and it rotted where steel met copper

GarageBoy said:

You sure you need current? The statue of liberty had no current going through it and it rotted where steel met copper

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It's bathed in salt spray 24/7/365. Most of the titanium used has some aluminum in it to begin with.

Henk_Lu said:

Is there any current flowing through these parts? Without any current, no galvanic corrosion...

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You don't need a current for a galvanic reaction, i think youre mistaking this term with electrolytic passivation.... You just need a good electrical contact, some kind of fluid (you'd be surprised about the amount of chemicals that would do the trick) and time will do the rest... in fact, inside primary batteries its the galvanic response that creates the voltage and current that make a cell work and it would be mighty stupid if you needed a battery to get another battery to work now wouldn't it!

And about sticking one part to another (semi-) permanently is quite a different story than actually expecting the parts to stay nice and un-threadable and stuff.....

GarageBoy said:

You sure you need current? The statue of liberty had no current going through it and it rotted where steel met copper

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What about lightning strikes?

For the OP,

I own about 10 Quarks (~4 Al, ~6 Ti) and have almost every tube combination possible in both Al and Ti. On a more practical side, I have found that the threads do not always match between Al and Ti. When I tried to do mix-n-match some combinations were very, very tight and some did not work at all. I never did get an answer (and I did ask) as to whether this was a normal manufacturing variance or whether there were differences in the thread spec of the Ti versions vs. the Al versions. I don't know what the current stock would be like. All of my quarks are almost a year old by now.

For instance, I wanted to use a Quark RGB head on a Ti 1xAA body - no go. Threads would not mate. - At least on the ones that I own.

Just an FYI, don't expect them to mate every time. If you are planning to do this specifically, I would actually have the specific combinations checked before the pieces are sent to you (if possible).

Zendude said:

What about lightning strikes?

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What about them/