Submitted by KevinS on Wed, 28/10/2020 - 21:31
MechDesigner example cam and follower types

MechDesigner can model any Cam Type

From a complete machine to a simple mechanical device, MechDesigner will generate the exact cam and cam-coordinates for your needs.

All cams can be found with forward-kinematics and inverse-kinematics. You can design the motion for any part in a mechanism and add the cam to any other part. MechDesigner will calculate the exact cam coordinates and export them in a number of formats.

A Selection of Cam Types
Cam Types with MechDesigner - a selection.

Cams and Cam-Followers that:

  • Rotate
  • Slide
  • do not move, they are fixed in the machine frame
  • are not joined to the machine frame - e.g. a coupler

The shape of a Cam-Followers can be any geometric shape.

  • Circular: Cylindrical or Tapered
  • Flat-Faced Followers
  • Lozenge or Boat shapes, as needed for cable or thread 'winder' cams.
  • Packaging sectional shapes - such as bottles.

The standard Cam and Cam-Followers arrangements are obviously possible.

  • Rotating Cam with Swinging / Translating Cam-Follower
  • Linear Cam with Swinging / Translating Cam-Follower
  • Stationary 'turret' Cam for rotary machines, wth Swinging or Translating Cam-Follower
  • Stationary 'ramp' Cam with Linear Drive and Swinging / Translating Cam-Follower

Cam Types:

  • Plate [Flat] Cam - with swinging and translating follower
  • Track Cams - with swinging or translating cam-follower
  • Conjugate-Cams (internal or external) with swinging and translating cam-followers
  • Stationary Plate and Linear Cams with swinging and translating follower
  • Cams along a belt, chain, or any cam path.
  • Barrel Cam: with swinging and translating arm follower
  • Barrel translating cam with 'twist' cam-followers.
  • Globoidal Cam: with an oscillating or indexing cam-follower turret.
  • Parallel (conjugate) with an oscillating or indexing cam-follower turret.

Cam-Data:

  • Pitch Centre Path for Circular Cam-Followers
  • Internal and external coordinates for the cam-follower contact point
  • Number-of-Points:
    • 20 to 2,000,000 points - useful for large or even enormous Labeler or Filling Machine Cams.
  • Points at:
    • Equal 'machine angle' steps.
    • Biarcs - Arcs that are tangential with a 'maximum chordal error' to minimize the size of the data file.
  • Cam data file formats:
    • TXT
    • DXF
    • SOLIDWORKS Curve Feature
    • STEP

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