Racing transmissions manufacturer Hewland Engineering has installed two high-specification CNC machine tools supplied by HK Technologies.

The Mitsubishi FA10-S Advanced V-Package and Kapp VUS 55P are the first wire-EDM and gear-grinding machines on site at the company's headquarters near Maidenhead in Berkshire, UK.

To date, Hewland has designed more than 200 bespoke transmissions for its clients and supplies a complete semi-automatic gearbox.

The company also manufactures a range of 13 gearboxes designed to suit most modern motorsport applications for front- and rear-wheel drive, as well as a range of classic gearboxes.

Both the Mitsubishi EDM and Kapp gear grinder are being used to manufacture intricate, specialised racing transmission parts.

Both processes were previously subcontracted - a situation that had its drawbacks, according to business coordination director Stephen Deane.

'Bringing EDM and gear-grinding processes in house is not only about saving costs and achieving better control over factors such as design and delivery; it's about respecting customer confidentiality,' he said.

The FA-S Advance is a universal wire-EDM machine that can increase competitive edge through low operating costs and short processing times, according to HK.

It offers cutting speeds up to 500mm2/min, surface finishes of less than 0.15 micron Ra, wire diameters from 0.1mm to 0.36mm, best parallelism and the simple processing of other materials.

The company claims the automatic functions, coupled with the solid, durable construction and the linear measuring system, ensure lasting results that are fully reproducible.

The Kapp VUS 55P universal gear-grinding machine allows the form finishing of external and internal spur and helical gears and other profiles using single indexing and Kapp CBN profile grinding wheels or dressable tools.

An integral CNC dressing device enables the generation of CNC-controlled arbitrary wheel profiles.

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