A new ball pin fastener from pierce fastening and assembly specialist Profil UK, provides a fast and cost-effective method of achieving high strength pivot points in sheet metal components from 0.8-3.0 mm thick. Incorporating a cold forged 10 mm diameter head profile that is compatible with industry-standard gas spring units, Profil’s new SBF ball pin fastener is ideal for domestic appliance use, as well as for vehicle tailgate and bonnet applications. It also offers substantial piece part cost and installation speed advantages over competitive fasteners such as spin riveted components or threaded fulcrum pegs that require additional captive nuts or welded anchorage points. The Profil system is available for both self-piercing and pre-pierced material applications and, through the use of custom-developed, automatic feeding and setting equipment, can be installed at up to 40 units per minute – more than 10 times faster than alternative fixing methods. The SBF pivot fastener features a 6.4 mm diameter shank with 14 mm diameter flanged base, which provides exceptional shear and pull out resistance. The new design provides 50% higher bending moment resistance than Profil’s established SBF unflanged ball pin fastener – itself capable of recording less than 1mm deflection under a standard 2 kN cyclic load – to consistently outperform riveted or weld nut anchored pivots. The new SBF pivot pin, the latest addition to Profil’s rapidly-expanding range of fastening systems for high volume sheet metal applications, has already been selected as a preferred assembly method by one leading European automotive manufacturer and is currently undergoing evaluation tests with several others.