A computer aided method for cam profile design

Abstract

A computer-aided numerical method for the design of a cam-follower mechanism and NC milling for a planar cam profile is presented. The method consists of an iteration method for the calculation of the follower motion properties (oscillation, velocity and acceleration, jerk) using the vector differences for three successive points on the cam profile. With the aid of a CAD program the results of the method are exported to the NC milling machine, thus facilitating the programming procedure and leading to a significant reduction of the NC code size. Numerical examples have been reported to compare differences of the proposed method versus the analytical design parameters of the cam-follower mechanism. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.