With more than 55 years’ experience manufacturing specialty fasteners for the aviation and defense industries, at California Screw Products we use a range of manufacturing processes including cold heading.
California Screw Products (CalScrew) is part of the Avantus Group, a collection of organizations located in the US and UK who specialize in the production of aerospace engineering parts, assemblies and fasteners. From our state of the art facilities in Paramount, California, we offer a full range of capabilities, including hot and cold heading.

Cold heading
Also known as cold forming, cold heading is widely used in the engineering industry. The process involves the formation of solid parts via incremental steps. A slug – a piece of metal cut from a large coil- is subjected to a series of blows from dies, gradually changing the shape of the slug until the part is formed. The resultant workpiece is the same weight as the original slug but has been precisely reshaped; this process having created a stronger part and enhanced grain flow of the metal.

Cold heading is advantageous in many ways; it produces little waste and by working with the workpiece at room temperature, the characteristics of the base metal are not impacted by the formation. What’s more, the cold heading process offers high levels of precision and repeatability, while remaining cost effective. 
 
A tailored service
The cold heading process usually involves several progressions. Progressions are stages which change the workpiece’s shape in different ways and at the end of each progression the shape is closer to the final desired shape. Every fastener is different; simpler ones may be done in very few progressions, needing just a few blows from a cold heading machine. However, more complex fasteners will need more progressions and more blows.

Every fastener has its own unique set of hammers, dies and punches which will be utilized to form the desired part. In addition, adjustments will be made according to the metal being used, and each customer’s individual needs.

At CalScrew, we recognize that each client is different and strive to meet, or exceed, their needs while adhering to industry standards.