Hello,

Can anyone tell me if hardened dowel pins are generally made from cold rolled or hot rolled steel?

I would appreciate any feedback I can get on the dowel-pin manufacturing process from start to finish along with the usual type of steel used.

I want to use a hardened dowel pin as the shaft for a plastic bushing, and for some reason the predicted life on the bushing is drastically shortened with the use of a hot rolled shaft as opposed to a cold rolled shaft having the same surface finish of .2 um. I am not sure why cold rolled versus hot rolled would matter as long as the surface finish is the same.  
  
Are hardened dowel pins generally made from the same materials and by the same methods as hardened & ground shafting? I prefer to use the stock dowel pin because it is cheap, at the proper diameter, and already cut to the length I need.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,
John