Buying standard screws off a shelf is easy. The hard part starts when your product needs a fastener that does not exist as a standard part — a rivet with an unusual head profile, a pin with three diameters on one shank, a shoulder screw that must survive 500,000 assembly cycles without loosening.
That is exactly the kind of part YIWAN Hardware makes every day. As a factory with more than 30 years of cold upsetting experience in Yueqing, Zhejiang, we offer a custom cold heading service that turns your drawings or physical samples into stable, export-ready fasteners — from first prototype to repeat mass production.
If you are an OEM buyer, purchasing manager, or product engineer looking for a reliable cold heading manufacturer, this page explains how our process works, what we can produce, and how to get a quote in the fastest possible way.
What Is a Custom Cold Heading Service?
Cold heading (also called cold upsetting or cold forging) is a forming process that shapes metal wire at room temperature by pressing it between precision dies — no cutting, no chips, no wasted material.
A custom cold heading service means the dies, tooling, and process are built specifically for your part geometry, not for a catalog item. Instead of buying a DIN-standard screw and adapting your design to it, you send us a drawing, and we design the tooling to produce exactly that part.
Compared with CNC machining from bar stock, cold forming offers three advantages that matter to OEM buyers:
- Lower unit cost at volume. Cold heading runs at hundreds of parts per minute with material utilization above 85%. There is no chip waste, which is why a cold headed part is typically 20–50% cheaper than a machined equivalent once tooling is amortized.
- Stronger parts. Forming at room temperature work-hardens the material and keeps the grain flow continuous along the part contour — critical for rivets, pins, and studs that see shear or fatigue loads.
- Better consistency. Once the tooling is proven, every part in the batch is formed by the same dies. That repeatability is what makes automated assembly lines possible.
Bespoke Fasteners We Produce from Your Drawings
Our multi-station cold upsetting lines, supported by CNC machining, Taiwan-style and Ningbo-style automatic lathes, and punch presses, allow us to match the right production route to each part. Typical parts we cold head to customer drawings include:
- Rivets — solid, semi-tubular, and hollow rivets with custom head shapes, lengths, and finishes
- Pins and studs — cylindrical pins, stepped pins, shoulder studs, and terminal studs
- Screws and bolts — custom head geometries (pan, hex, flange, washer-face), special thread ends, and drive features
- Nuts and washers — small hardware formed or stamped to specification
- Complex cold forged parts — multi-diameter shafts, collars, undercuts, and asymmetric geometries formed progressively, with secondary operations where needed
- Door lock parts and electrical hardware — precision components for the lock, appliance, and electrical industries
Shank diameters typically range from 1.5 mm to 18 mm, and we regularly combine cold heading with thread rolling, CNC turning, drilling, tapping, and knurling for features that cannot be formed directly.
Materials and Finishes
Choosing the right material is as important as the geometry. We work with the materials most commonly specified in OEM fastener drawings:
| Category | Common Grades |
|---|---|
| Carbon steel | C1008, C1010, C1022, 10B21, 35K, 45K |
| Stainless steel | SS201, SS301, SS304, SS316, SS416, SS420 |
| Brass and copper | C36000, H59, H62, and related grades |
| Aluminum | Common cold-forming alloys and tempers |
Surface finishes include zinc plating, nickel plating, black oxide, brass and tin plating, and other coatings per your specification. Salt spray test reports for plated parts are available on request — an important verification step for buyers in automotive, construction hardware, and outdoor applications.
Heat treatment is available when your application requires higher strength grades, and we can supply parts to international standards (DIN, ANSI, JIS, GB) or purely to your drawing.
How Our Custom Fastener Process Works — From Drawing to Shipment
We keep the workflow simple, because most of our B2B customers are coordinating several suppliers at once and need clear, predictable steps.
- Send your drawing or sample. 2D (PDF, DWG) or 3D (STEP) files both work. If you only have a physical sample, send it — we can reverse-engineer the dimensions and confirm them with you before tooling.
- Engineering review and quotation. Our engineers — many with over 30 years of cold heading experience — review the part for manufacturability: head formability, tolerances, material selection, and the most economical production route. You receive a quotation with a clear breakdown, not a vague unit price.
- Tooling and first samples. We design and cut custom dies for your part, then produce first-article samples for your approval. Nothing goes to mass production until you have confirmed the samples.
- Mass production with in-process inspection. Production runs on multi-station cold heading machines with automatic infrared inspection equipment monitoring dimensional consistency. This inline control catches variation before it becomes a shipped defect.
- Packaging and export. Parts are packed to your requirements — cartons, blister trays, pallets — and shipped with complete documentation. We exhibit regularly at international fastener shows (Fastener Fair Milan, International Fastener Expo Phoenix, Moscow Fastener Expo) and export worldwide.
Industries We Serve
Cold headed custom parts appear wherever a machine or assembly is designed. Our parts are used in:
- Door lock and security hardware — lock cylinders, latch components, mounting pins
- Electrical and appliance components — contact parts, terminal studs, connection hardware
- Automotive and machinery assemblies — rivets, pins, and special screws for OEM equipment
- Furniture and construction hardware — high-volume fasteners where unit cost and consistency matter
Why OEM Buyers Choose YIWAN for Custom Cold Heading
- One factory, integrated processes. Multi-station cold upsetting, CNC, automatic lathes, and punch presses under one roof means we can route your part through the most cost-effective process — and handle mixed-requirement orders without subcontracting surprises.
- Drawing-to-sample flexibility. Development from drawings or physical samples, with first-article confirmation before every production run.
- Inspection-focused quality control. Automatic infrared detection equipment and structured in-process checks keep repeat orders consistent with the samples you approved — which is the real test of a cold heading manufacturer.
- Practical engineering support. Our engineers will tell you honestly if a feature is better machined than formed, or if a tolerance is driving cost without adding function. That kind of feedback saves buyers real money.
- Long-term supply, not one-off transactions. Most of our business is repeat production for the same drawings. We are structured to be your ongoing supplier, not just a first-order vendor.
How to Request a Quote for Custom Cold Heading
The fastest quote comes from the most complete RFQ. Include:
- A drawing (or sample) with critical dimensions and tolerances marked
- Material and grade, or the operating environment if you need a recommendation
- Estimated annual quantity and first-order quantity
- Required finish (plating standard, salt spray hours) and any certification needs
- Destination market, so we match the applicable standards
Send these through our [https://yiwan.net/contact/](https://yiwan.net/contact/) and our team will reply with a technical assessment and quotation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum order quantity for a custom cold heading service?
MOQ depends on part size and tooling cost. Small hardware like rivets and pins is usually economical from around 10,000–50,000 pieces; larger or more complex parts have different thresholds. Send us your drawing and target quantity and we will confirm the practical MOQ for your specific part.
Can you make fasteners directly from my drawings without a sample?
Yes. Most of our projects start from a 2D or 3D drawing. We confirm key dimensions with you, build the tooling, and supply first-article samples for approval before mass production. If you only have a sample, we can measure it and reproduce the part.
What tolerances can cold heading achieve?
Cold heading typically holds diameters to around ±0.02–0.05 mm and lengths to ±0.1 mm, depending on the geometry. Features requiring tighter tolerances can be finished by secondary machining or grinding.
How long does it take to get first samples?
After the drawing is confirmed, tooling and first samples usually take about 2–4 weeks depending on part complexity. Mass production lead time depends on quantity — we confirm both dates in the quotation.
What materials can you cold head?
The most common are carbon steels (C1008, C1022, 10B21), stainless steels (304, 316, 410 series), brass, copper, and aluminum alloys. If your drawing specifies another material, send it for review — formability determines whether it suits cold heading.
Do you provide quality documentation?
Yes. We provide material certificates, dimensional inspection reports, and salt spray test reports for plated parts. Additional testing or documentation can be arranged per your market’s requirements.
Start Your Custom Fastener Project
Whether you are sourcing a single custom rivet or a full family of cold formed fasteners, the first step is the same: send us the drawing. Our engineers will assess it, flag any cost-saving opportunities, and return a quotation you can take directly to your purchasing team.
Custom CNC Turned Shaft | Precision Machining Parts ✅ Yiwan Hardware · Watch on YouTube