Compare the Advantages
Cold rolling steel and machining offer more shaping versatility and customizability than hot rolling or cold drawing. Machining steel offers the unique ability to change shape down the length of the bar or wire, which the cold rolling process cannot do. However, it comes at a cost. Machining steel is by far the most expensive cost option and has the highest yield loss of any steel shaping process. If you need a uniform shape down the entire length of the bar or wire, cold rolled steel provides unquestionably better value.
At Charter Wire, we've found many of our customers once thought that machined steel shapes were their only option for complex profiles. They are often relieved to find out that cold rolled steel can accomplish many of these shapes, with the same tight manufacturing tolerances they had relied upon through machining, at a lower cost.
Furthermore, cold rolling steel is the only way to achieve the unparalleled surface finish and hardness that results from mechanically working the steel grain structure as it passes through the rolling mills. Having created over 2,000 unique cold rolled steel shapes since our company was founded in 1936, Charter Wire offers unparalleled expertise in creating custom profiles that meet or exceed the expectations for nearly any application.
If machining is still the best option for your process, cold rolling can still provide benefits. Machinability grades that are initially cold rolled to a pre-shape can offer better tool life, asset utilization, and performance in the machining process for our customers due to the increase in hardness and tensile strength that comes from cold rolling steel.