The wire is supplied from spools or stems, then passed through a rotary straightener where it is cleaned and cut to the required length. The straightener can produce pin blanks ranging from 50 mm (2.0″) to 140 mm (5.5″) at a rate of 10,000 pieces per hour, and pin blanks from 140 mm (5.5″) to 229 mm (9.0″) at a reduced rate of 5,000 pieces per hour.

After cutting, the pin blanks are loaded into the hopper at the rear of the Cold Heading Machine. They are then fed through a sequence of progressive dies that gradually form the terminal pin ends. The Cold Heading Machine produces 7,740 pieces per hour for wire diameters between 1.57 mm (0.062″) and 2.0 mm (0.079″), and 5,160 pieces per hour for diameters between 2.1 mm (0.083″) and 3.18 mm (0.125″).

The Cold Heading Machine maintains tolerances of ±0.25 mm (0.010″) on pin length and ±0.025 mm (0.001″) on reduced diameters. Since the machine forms the pins mechanically, the wire must have a tensile strength between 60,000 psi and 75,000 psi (4218–5273 kg/cc²).