Photo shows the gear set made by Forest City Gear for Bruker, comprising a phosphor bronze gear and 17-4 stainless steel worm shaft. The gear is 164 diametral pitch and is the finest thread worm gear made by Forest City Gear, to date.

Bruker AXS utilizes high-precision worm gear assembly in instrumentation

Roscoe, IL-Forest City Gear supplies brass worm gear assemblies for a variety of high-precision applications, but few approach the level of accuracy and repeatability requirements of one longtime customer, Bruker AXS, a Madison, WI manufacturer of various analytical instruments for the pharmaceutical industry and other markets. 

“We had a gear set being manufactured by another supplier and then inspected by Forest City Gear (FCG). The results were not what we needed for our equipment, as the FCG testing quickly revealed. We worked closely with their engineering and production staff to achieve our required standards,” explains Dave Schumacher, Bruker’s purchasing and materials manager. 

“Since that time, we’ve received better overall product quality at a lower cost. Plus, because of some innovations suggested by the FCG engineering team, we’ve achieved faster assembly times, better accuracy and longer service life in the field on our equipment.” 

The brass worm gear assemblies provided by Forest City Gear are used to position certain optics and shutters on the D8 Series of analytical diffractometers built by Bruker.

These systems are typically found in research labs and R&D facilities at academic institutions as well as industrial locations.

The systems manufactured by Bruker AXS address a wide range of analytical applications, including phase identification, phase quantification, texture, stress, single crystal diffraction, small angle x-ray scattering, high-throughput screening (HTS), microdiffraction, reciprocal space mapping, non-ambient characterization, high-resolution x-ray diffraction, reflectometry, gracing incidence diffraction, indexing and structure solution. 

Such flexibility in use requires an equally adaptable instrument to suit the task at hand.

“Anyone whose day-to-day work involves pushing the limits of analytical research and science is dependent on instrumentation that can handle many changing requirements. The flexibility of our systems allows them to handle it all,” Scumacher explains.

“The smallest and largest samples and sample amounts, inhomogeneous or oriented samples of complex shape geometry and possibly samples with heavier weight are very often the keys to being able to perform any analysis at all.” 

Some of the key components on the D8 series of diffractometers include the patented Bruker automated laser-video alignment system and the patented HI-STAR area detector. The combination of these two components enables simple precision alignment of sample features. 

The peak to background ratio of the data collected is close to the theoretical limits, owing to the unique sensitivity of the HI-STAR detector. 

The FCG worm gear sets are utilized on these systems for the precise alignment and positioning of the incident beam. The proper alignment of a system starts with the incident beam, so the gear movements must be accurate and repeatable. 

The D8 Apex II series of instruments is another system where the FCG gears are used. The APEX II line of chemical crystallography solutions combines the best of worldwide Bruker development to give users the tools for single crystal structure determination. 

These instruments feature easy to use, state-of-the-art software, plus fast, most sensitive low-noise APEX II detector. These features provide data quickly and reliably to the academic lab or industrial research facility. 

The types of gears used on this equipment are designed in-house by Bruker's mechanical engineering team. 

“Early in our relationship, we met with the FCG engineers and quickly appreciated their expertise in gear design,” Schumacher recounts.

“We frequently use that expertise to help us solve problems in our own designs. Every supplier to Bruker must prove their ability to supply us quality product, on time and at the agreed price. Critical mechanical components such as gear sets require prototypes and we’ve consistently been impressed by the levels of quality and careful engineering at FCG.” 

He also noted Forest City Gear performs all the rigorous inspections necessary to comply with the production protocols at Bruker. 

For more information visit www.bruker-axs.com and www.forestcitygear.com