Tooling Notes: Ridgelocking Tubes

In automotive and heat exchanger tubing applications, Ridgelocking is commonly used to lock tubing to a muffler baffle or heat exchanger manifold plate. The Ridgelocking process simply raises two beads in the tubing to sandwich the baffle plate or manifold sheet.

The two pictures below show different applications for “C” style Ridgelock tooling. The first is an HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) application and the second picture shows an automotive seat frame application with the cross tube locked in place by a modified Ridgelock. Ridgelocking multiple tubes into multiple baffles as found in some muffler internals is best accomplished using a specialized Ridgelock machine.  For more information on Ridgelocking or any other Tooling Application, please contact us.

HVAC Ridgelocking Application

 Automotive Ridgelocking Application