--- title: "Cold Heading (Cold Forging)" description: "Cold Heading for custom fasteners: what the process suits, what it does not, and which parts it produces. Samples in 7 days, MOQ from 2,000 pieces." url: https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/cold-heading/ source: Engineering Hardware & Fasteners --- # Cold Heading (Cold Forging) Cold Heading · Fastener manufacturing process Send a drawing, a sample or a photograph. Samples follow within 7 days of the drawing being approved. Request a quotation One business day for a reply. subcategory-wheel-lug-hub-track-bolts Cold Heading is used at Engineering Hardware to make custom bolts, screws, nuts to a customer drawing. Forming a head on a wire blank at room temperature, in one or several blows, with no metal cut away. The minimum order is 2,000–5,000 pieces and samples follow within 7 days of the drawing being approved. Forming a head on a wire blank at room temperature, in one or several blows, with no metal cut away. The blank is cut from coil and struck into a die. Because nothing is removed, the grain flow follows the shape of the part instead of being cut through it — which is why a cold-headed head is stronger at the head-to-shank fillet than a machined one of the same material, and why almost every high-volume bolt and screw in the world is made this way. The work hardening that comes with it raises the tensile strength of the finished blank before any heat treatment. ## What Cold Heading is the right choice for - High volumes — the cycle is measured in parts per second, not parts per minute - Parts where head-to-shank strength matters - Standard and near-standard fastener shapes - Minimising material cost: there is no swarf ## Where it is the wrong choice - Tooling has to be made, so it is the wrong process for a few hundred pieces - Deep undercuts and sharp internal corners are difficult to form - Very long parts relative to diameter need a secondary operation ## Parts produced this way - [Custom Bolt](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/bolts/) — [76 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/bolts/) - [Custom Screw](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/screws/) — [131 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/screws/) - [Custom Nut](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/nuts/) — [110 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/nuts/) - [Custom Rivet](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/rivets/) — [23 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/rivets/) - [Custom Pin](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/pins/) — [43 standard parts in the catalog](https://engineeringhardware.com/fasteners/pins/) ## Usually combined with Cold Heading is rarely the only operation on a part. On most jobs it sits in a sequence with: - [Thread Rolling](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/thread-rolling/) - [Hot Forging](https://engineeringhardware.com/custom/hot-forging/) ## Order terms - **Minimum order:** 2,000–5,000 pieces. The exact figure depends on the part: it is set by the tooling the drawing calls for, and is confirmed when the drawing has been reviewed. - **Samples:** Within 7 days of drawing approval. - **Drawing:** Preferred, but not required — a sample, photographs or a sketch is enough to start. ## What a quotation needs Nine things, and a drawing settles most of them at once. Where a field is unknown, say so — an assumption stated is better than a blank, and several of these can be recommended rather than specified. - **Drawing:** A 2D drawing (PDF or DWG) or a 3D model settles almost every other question on this list at once. - **Dimensions:** Diameter, length, head size and any features — enough to know what is being made. - **Tolerance:** Tolerance is the single biggest cost driver. Tell us which dimensions are critical and which are not — holding everything tight costs money on features nobody measures. - **Material:** Carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless, brass, aluminium, titanium — or the application, and we will suggest one. - **Strength grade:** Property class to ISO 898-1 (8.8, 10.9, 12.9) or stainless class to ISO 3506 (A2-70, A4-80). This decides the material and the heat treatment together. - **Thread standard:** Metric coarse, metric fine, UNC, UNF, BSW or a pipe thread — and the tolerance class if it is specified. - **Surface finish:** Zinc, hot-dip galvanised, black oxide, Dacromet, Geomet, nickel, passivation, or plain. Salt-spray hours if you have a requirement. - **Quantity:** Annual volume and first-order quantity. Volume changes which process is the right one, so it changes the price more than most buyers expect. - **Application & environment:** What the part holds together, and what it has to survive — temperature, vibration, chemicals, salt. This is what lets us catch a specification that will not work before it is made. ## Draw it here No CAD, no account, nothing to install. Draw the part in your browser, generate a real ISO metric thread from M1 to M100 with the end treatment it needs, dimension it, and export a PDF or a DXF to attach below. Sheets run to two metres for long studs and threaded rod. Open the drawing builder ## Questions ### What is the minimum order quantity for a custom part? Between 2,000 and 5,000 pieces for most parts. The exact figure depends on the part: it is set by the tooling the drawing calls for, and is confirmed when the drawing has been reviewed. ### How long does a sample take? Within 7 days once the drawing has been approved. The drawing stage comes first, and for a part being reverse-engineered from a sample it is where most of the time goes. ### Can you make a part without a drawing? Yes. A physical sample, photographs against a scale, or a dimensioned sketch are all workable starting points. A drawing is produced from whichever of those you have and sent back for approval before anything is made. ### When is Cold Heading not the right process? Tooling has to be made, so it is the wrong process for a few hundred pieces. Deep undercuts and sharp internal corners are difficult to form. Very long parts relative to diameter need a secondary operation. ### Which fasteners are made by cold heading? In this catalog: bolt, screw, nut, rivet, pin. Whether it is the right process for a particular part depends on the drawing and the quantity. ## Parts of this kind we already make Showing 36 of 170 081 – Swing Bolt — GB／T 77 ／ ISO 4026 (Series 020) — GB／T 77 ／ ISO 4026 097 – Lifting Eye Bolt — GB／T 825 ／ DIN 580 (Series 036) — GB／T 825 ／ DIN 580 098 – Lifting Eye Bolt — GB／T 825 ／ DIN 580 (Series 037) — GB／T 825 ／ DIN 580 118 – Hex Bolt — GB／T 6173 ／ ISO 8675 (Series 057) — GB／T 6173 ／ ISO 8675 12-Point Screws – Bolts 12-Point-Screws-Bolts-Applications Anchor-Bolts-GB-T-799-DIN-529 asme-b18-5-2-unc-carriage-bolt Bicycle-Bottle-Cage-Rack-and-Fender-Bolts Bicycle-Brake-Caliper-Mounting-Bolts Bicycle-Cleat-Fixing-Bolts Bicycle-Disc-Brake-Rotor-Bolts Bicycle-Stem-and-Headset-Bolts Carbon-Steel-Stainless-Eye-Swing-Bolts Carriage Bolts — DIN 603 category-bolts Concrete-Coil-Rods-Coil-Nuts-and-Coil-Bolts Concrete-Formwork-Wedge-Bolts din-478-square-head-bolt-with-collar Elevator Bolts Elevator-Bolts-Applications Equal-End Stud Bolt — GB – T 901 – DIN 939 (Series 093) — GB – T 901 – DIN 939 Exhaust-U-Bolt-and-Band-Clamps Eye Bolts — DIN 580 Fitted-Bolts-DIN-609 Foundation-Bolts-L-J gn-505-4-serrated-t-slot-bolt Heavy-Duty-Blind-Bolts Heavy-Hex-Structural-Bolts Hex Bolts — ISO 4014 ／ ISO 4017 Hex Bolts — ISO 4014 ／ ISO 4017 Detail Hex Bolts, Grade C — ISO 4016 Hex Flange Bolts — ISO 1665 ／ DIN 6921 Huck-C50L-Large-Diameter-Lockbolt-Assembly Huck-C6L-Small-Diameter-Lockbolt-Assembly Huck-Magna-Grip-Lockbolt-Assembly These are catalog parts, shown to say what the tooling already covers. A special is quoted from your drawing, not from this list. ## Drawing builder Draw the part, dimension it, and export a PDF or a DXF to attach to the form below. FASTENER **DRAWING** CMD Fastener drawing builder [https://engineeringhardware.com/](https://engineeringhardware.com/) Nothing you draw is uploaded until you send it, and the drawing lives in your own browser — export it before you close the tab. ## Send the part A drawing answers most of this at once. If you do not have one, fill in what you know and attach a photograph — samples follow within 7 days of the drawing being approved.