ENGINEERING SUCCESS STORIES
From practice. For practice.
Every application has its own demands on precision, dynamics, and installation space. Together with our customers, we develop tailored solutions – from initial idea to component selection to series-ready implementation.
In our Engineering Success Stories, we showcase real-world projects and share insights into development processes, technical challenges, and the solutions we found together.
How engineering know-how transformed an early-stage development into a reliable, cost-effectively manufacturable, and high-precision series solution.
A manufacturer of laboratory automation systems was developing a new positioning unit for high-precision motion tasks. Feinmess Suhl was brought into the project at an early development stage as a specialist in precision lead screw drives and positioning systems.
The customer had a functional prototype demonstrating the basic function of 3-axis positioning and angular alignment of an interchangeable 5x2 cm sample carrier. For series production, significant challenges remained regarding precision, repeatability, long-term stability, and manufacturability.
Starting Situation
Analysis of the functional prototype revealed optimization potential in several technically critical areas:
Even the smallest geometric deviations or unfavorable tolerance chains had a direct impact on positioning accuracy and the overall system performance. |
 | Technical Data
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Our Engineering Contribution
The focus was not only on the precision lead screw drive as the key component, but on the interaction of all relevant influencing factors:
- Analysis of the existing state of development
- Optimization of the precision thread drive
- Design for Manufacturing (DfM)
- Optimization of axial play and preload of the thread drive and guide, as well as the tolerance chain
- Improved stiffness of the guides and the entire positioning unit
- Selection of suitable material pairings and coatings, particularly in the sample handling area
- Manufacturing optimization
- Development of an assembly-friendly concept, including service considerations
- Production and testing of development samples
- Metrological validation
- Transition to series production
Every optimization measure was verified using real measurement data and iteratively refined until all requirements for precision, repeatability, and service life were met.
Project Result
Metric | Result |
Positioning accuracy | Significantly improved, spec maintained to <1µm |
Series readiness | Achieved |
Repeatability | Improved by a factor of 100 |
Long-term stability | Increased; specified service life demonstrated |
Assembly | Simplified |
Manufacturability | Optimized |
Engineering | From functional prototype to series solution |
Image from customer CAD: left shows the previous solution, right shows an intermediate stage from Feinmess Suhl
*Approved product images
Value for the Customer
The customer benefited from our engineering know-how in high-precision positioning and precision mechanical manufacturing, receiving all key services from a single source:
- Engineering
- Design for Manufacturing
- Precision manufacturing
- Prototyping
- Validation
- Assembly
- Series production, including test rigs
The result is an economically producible, long-term reliable positioning solution for use in laboratory automation.