20/08/2026
So what's it really take to make a shift tube in our Ultimate Automatic Collapsible columns. Well here's a brief run down of the most complex part inside a column.
3 piece of tube are cut, then they need machining square, each piece is then swaged to different shapes and dimensions, then back in the lathe to turn and/bore the swaged ends to diameters with a tolerance of +/-0.02mm this achieved only by controlling accurate temperatures. If they're wrong they're in the bin. This occurs before selecting matching components for assembly this is the critical part if the fit is too tight they won't meet specifications to collapse, if fit is too loose then they won't shift gears and slip when trying to shift.
So that's 3 tubes, 6 machining ends square, 4 swaging OP's, then another 4 different turning and boring operations, 2 tubes are then assembled once sizing is matched to hit targets using a load cell and data logging the forces every .25 seconds for accuracy and no we won't show how we achieve this part of the process.
Then there's drive key welding, radial drilling and tapping operations on the 3rd tube then final welding of 3rd tube to the other 2 to get the final length correct for a column.
And that's the bit you don't see inside the column and what's it job? To change gears and collapse if ever required. Yeah easy hey, if you don't know much about manufacturing every time you have a different operation to do, it requires different setup, which means time on top of the job that looks so simple.
