In 1971, Ingun Prüfmittelbau GmbH (www.ingun.com/en) — based in Konstanz, Germany — began making test probes and fixtures with a staff of seven in a garage.

Today, the company has 300 employees world-wide. Many electrically powered products — such as the electrical harnesses used in cars, battery packs for bicycles, smartphones, laptops and PCs — are tested for correct operation with an Ingun product; and as these devices get ever smaller, examining and testing the PCBs they use is becoming increasingly complex.

The probe assembliess that Ingun makes consist of a barrel, a spring, a plunger and a probe with a gold-plated tip. Outer diameters can be smaller than 0.8mm, while the machining of 0.12mm-diameter cross-holes and 0.19mm-diameter studs are usual tasks.

Brass and copper-beryllium alloys are the materials most machined, although Teflon and other plastics are finding increasing use.

In 2014, the company saw the SwissNano machine that had just been launched by Tornos, which has a UK subsidiary in Coalville (www.tornos.com).

The technical parameters matched Ingun’s requirements of being compact, stable and precise, while also offering good access.

Moreover, the machine’s ability to produce parts just 1mm long with a wall thickness of 0.07mm was confirmed with extensive turning trials. Working with Ingun, Tornos adapted the machine to its customers’ requirements; this included fitting a shortened bar loader to minimise vibration and a pick-off device mounted on the spindle.

Nick Symanczyk, Ingun’s engineer responsible for the company’s Tornos machines, says: “If we didn’t have this special pick-off device, it would be difficult to distinguish parts from chips.”

Ingun’s first SwissNano was followed by two more in 2015, and the purchase of another is imminent.