M2 Steel Ball Lock Pilot Punches - Round Tip, Heavy Duty

These heavy-duty ball lock pilot punches are used in injection and stamping mold tooling setups where repeatable part positioning is critical during every cycle.

• Progressive die and blanking lines: the round-tip geometry promotes controlled entry at start-up and helps maintain consistent location through repeated punch strokes, supporting stable feed control and reduced misalignment risk.
• Automotive bracket and connector housings (high-throughput forming): the ball-lock locking interface is designed to resist drift under vibration, making it suitable for long production runs where tight location accuracy must be maintained.
• General heavy-duty inch tooling: M2 steel construction provides durable wear resistance for tooling life in abrasive or high-contact applications.

Select this variant when your tooling uses inch-standard pilot interfaces and you require a robust pilot system for dependable alignment under load.

This series is available in M2 steel (and also PS4, per available material variants). M2 is a high-speed steel grade commonly selected for tooling requiring strong wear resistance under repeated contact and sliding at the pilot interface.

• M2 steel: typically supplied as a hardened tool steel; hardness is generally specified on the base material/tooling requirement. Expect a favorable balance between wear resistance and toughness, though extremely impact-heavy duty may require careful design of engagement length and support.
• PS4 (comparison): offered as an alternative material option for applications that may prioritize different machinability or wear performance characteristics depending on supplier specification.

In production, these punches are manufactured from hardened tool steel stock and then precision ground/machined to establish the pilot and ball-lock fit surfaces for consistent alignment.

To select the correct ball lock pilot punch size, match the punch shank diameter and point geometry to your mold/die pilot bushings and stop surfaces.

• Shank diameter (D): choose from 37 ~ 125 in based on your existing pilot bushing/guide bore and the required bearing area.
• Point length / L options: standard point length & L are offered as coded inch ranges of 250 ~ 600, 250 ~ 700, 275 ~ 700, and 300 ~ 700.
• B/C/D point length variants: point length B & L and C are also coded across 250 ~ 600, 250 ~ 700, 275 ~ 700, and 300 ~ 700, while D is offered as 275 ~ 700 or 300 ~ 700.

Use the provided coded inch range to align with your cavity/core or die pilot depth. For fit consistency at the ball-lock interface, verify system tolerance stack-up (pilot bore, seating faces, and engagement length) so the locking engagement remains stable throughout wear.