Inca-Geometric breaks into aerospace sector with Mazak and new method

The initial batch of 30 control housing components for the Chartham near Canterbury-based firm involved machining every facet from a solid aluminium tooling plate. Each control housing required face and profile milling, slotting, drilling and engraving of legends which were previously cast onto the control panel face. On the reverse side, extensive pocketing and profiling of the seal groove was carried out. The Inca method overcame previous problems when the customer produced the parts from castings. Among the problems experienced was a particular difficulty in maintaining a constant depth and form on special sealing grooves in the joint face. Managing director of Inca Mike Cain explained: "We were approached to quote for machining the castings, but the Mazak VTC gave us the opportunity to put forward a very competitive alternative process for complete machining from solid. This also gave us the ideal opening to break into a new sector from which we can expect further contracts." The Mazak set up involved A and B fixturing to create a pendulum-based process. "This meant we were loading during machining and were able to complete the process in a relatively quick cycle time," Mr Cain added.