Inca table saws

Whatever happened to Inca tools? I almost bought one of their table saws about 10 years ago, and my rich buddy has one of their jointers. No one seems to even mention them anymore.

Rick Potter

Maybe everyone found out that INCA means injection cast aluminum?

Inca was sold to a French company (Multico Sarl) when the owner of Inca decided to retire. They still make and sell Inca in Europe, but there are no U.S. importers. The products are now manufactured in France though.

I have owned a few Inca tools and still own an Inca jointer/planer. I would not hesitate whatsoever to purchase Inca products again if they fit my need.

It is my belief that Inca was more than a tool company, or that Inca was the tool division of a larger concern. It is only my belief, but I base that on seeing an aerial photo of their manufacturing plant and it seemed far larger than required for a company making just tools. I also note that I have come across other Inca items that weren't tools (pediatric scales, for instance).

I feel that Inca tools are top-notch. Some people viewed them as toys. Yes, the tables are aluminum. They are pressure cast aluminum that are thick cold anodized and very tough. I had an Euro-205 band saw with 8-1/2" wheels and a German-made TEFC 1/3-HP direct-drive motor that had no problem cutting through thick stock. I did end up selling it because I wanted something larger. But that was a great little saw.

I have a 10" Inca bandsaw (bought for $175 from someone who replaced with a Delta, if you can believe that!)....it is a great bandsaw and eats anything I push through it. I also have a Laguna 18" (and I have owned 14" Deltas in the past). This is, hands down, the best bandsaw I have ever owned. Inca = quality.

I've had an inca 10" table saw, 12" jointer/planer, and their large bandsaw for over 20 years. Their quality makes almost anything else look shoddy. The only drawback is their scale. I've built queen sized beds, a sideboard, and many cabinets but it was a challenge to figure out how to handle some of the larger pieces.

The table saw has 2 drawbacks. One, the table tilts instead of the arbor. I learned to re-engineer pieces to avoid cuts that required the table to be tilted. Two, the table goes up and down, not the blade. This means you can't use a fixed height outfeed table.

On the other hand, their precision is amazing. I built a working padlock and lots of intricate wooden machines on this equipment.

To be honest, however, I just built a new house with a big new shop. I ended up getting a sawstop table saw, 12" grizzly jointer, and 15" grizzly planer. I moved the inca bandsaw to the new shop. I couldn't face building a bunch of new furniture without scaled up equipment.

The INCA 3 wheel Band saw has performed without failure for nearly 25 years. The multiple sealed roller bearings have worked flawlessly from the time I bought.
The anodized table is incrediably. It has stood up to the rouhest wood with the bark on and even the grit encrusted old plywood I pushed through.
I find the scale for holding the table at angles could be improved as it has a single palm sized knob that is tighted against body of the saw.
If resawing a particularly heavey piece or large material that puts the weight tothe outside of the table you must be certain your table is locked down tight or supported by an ajustable leg to the underside of the table.
From time to time when I have worked wide material the 20 inch throat has come in most handy that or go to a jigsaw with good blades.

That satisfies my curiosity. I don't think the TS I was looking at had a tilting table though, but I do remember it had a quirky fence, which kept me from buying it. The other thing that stopped me was that Eagle Tools always had several in the back, for repairs or for spare parts.

Rick

Rick

I have almost all Inca Tools (table saw, big band saw, shaper, jointer/planer,radial arm). They have served me very well since 1982. At the time most American companies were going to Taiwan imports and my table saw cost less than a Unisaw( I still remember seeing the Delta Contractors saw with its plastic mitre gauge). The flexibility and accuracy of these tolls was world class. Kinda stationary Festools of their day. Alas, Inca did not make the transition to the new global economy and their prices became outrageous. In 1993 the big Inca 2200 cabinet saw was over $3,000. At the same time the quality of the new imports (grizzly,jet,) was improving dramatically. I still kick myself for not buying the tilting arbor saw when it was under $2,000. There is a site dedicated to these tools at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/incawoodworking/ if you desire more.

George