£500,000 investment programme will create skilled jobs

The first installation of a £300,000 Dugard Eagle HMB-4 horizontal borer has been completed to satisfy a recent contract for long term supply of valve bodies and a range of very complex military components. These components were initially produced on existing boring machines installed at the 16,000 ft² factory. With the new machine installation and further contract-winning potential, Inca has an immediate need for additional skilled machinists. Inca Geometric's joint managing directors, sister and brother Ann and Mike Cain have embarked on the investment programme in response to a significant rise in the demand for subcontract machining. This has occurred as Inca has progressively diversified from its specialist machine tool, engineering and tooling operation to capitalise on its design, application, machining and build skills. While the previous core business is still very active, some 200 per cent growth in orders largely from new customers in marine, defence, power generation, gaming, food and mechanical handling has led to the upgrading of production areas. Recent contracts have included components as small as miniature ball stops to the machining of generator frames 6 m by 2 m. Said Mike Cain: "The Eagle HMB4 is a high specification machine that will enable us to multiple load pallets of smaller parts or produce single complex components up to the working strokes of 2,200 mm in X, 1,600 mm in Y and Z. The 110 mm quill diameter provides a W-axis of 550 mm over the 1,200 mm by 1,500 mm, 5 tonne capacity table." Controlled via Heidenhain's high specification iTNC530 CNC unit married to its high accuracy glass scales for positioning, the table is also able to rotate at up to 200 revs/min. This capability enables single cycle turning/milling/drilling of features such as registers, faces and bores. Added Ann Cain: "The ability to run unmanned over long cycles was an important factor in selecting this machine. Even though it was a recent installation it has already saved up to 60 per cent on machining times compared to previous horizontal boring and machining centre methods which were all very skill dependent." To ensure tolerances are held on the type of work being undertaken, the 22 tonne HBM-4 has a temperature controlled spindle, on-board Renishaw tool and in-process probing. With a 60 tool magazine supplying the 30 kW spindle, which has through coolant supply at 20 bar, Inca Geometric has established a very flexible machining facility to achieve continuous production of multi-featured components. Inca Geometric was originally established in north London in 1956 by the Cain's father Geoff to design and produce multi-drill heads. A move to Kent in 1962 initiated subcontract machining for an automotive pump manufacturer that led to retooling of special purpose rotary and in-line machine tools. By the late 60s, Inca was building its own special purpose equipment and test rigs of which many are still in production around the world including 17 machines in the Korean automotive industry.