Disc Cam Generator dialog box - Design tab

Sets parameters for the design of a disc cam.

Click Calculate to perform the calculation of geometric parameters.

Access:

Ribbon: Design tab

Power Transmission panel

Disc Cam

Cam

Specifies parameters of the cam. Use the pull-down menu to select Component or No Model Option. If you select Component, the Cylindrical Face and Start Plane commands are enabled. If you select No Model, the commands are not available.

Component	Creates a new component.
No Model	Inserts only calculation.
Cylindrical Face	Specifies a cylindrical face or axis.
Start Plane	Specifies the start face or work plane. Click Flip to flip the orientation of start plane.
Preview	Displays the graphical image of the disc cam. Note: Displayed image depends on the follower type selected in More Options (Translating or Swinging Arm type of follower).

Follower

Specifies parameters of the follower.

Roller Radius	Radius of a roller.
Roller Width	Width of roller (only for cylinder shape).
Eccentricity	Follower eccentricity from the center of cam.
Pivot Distance	Distance of swinging center of rotation from the cam center.
Arm Length	Length of swinging arm.
Reaction Arm	Length of reaction arm.

Actual Segment

Specifies parameters of cam segments.

Actual Segment	Use the pull-down menu to select actual segment.
Motion Function	Use the selection list to select the appropriate motion. Click Plus (Add) to open the Add Motion dialog box where you can specify your own motion, which is added to the list. Other commands are available only when a motion is selected in the list. The Minus (Delete) command deletes current/selected user motion.
Add Before	Adds segment before the currently selected segment.
Delete	Deletes current segment.
Add After	Adds segment after the currently selected segment.

Graphic display of segments area

As you select a button on the toolbar, a corresponding quantity graph displays in this area. To turn off the display of a graph, clear the selection.

If you place the cursor above the graphs area, a tooltip displays with graph values that correspond to units of the actual cursor position.

You can select the cam segment in an index in the combo box in the Actual Segment area, or by click an appropriate position in the graph area.

Zoom switches on/off the zoom to the cam element graphs only.

Save graph data to file saves all graph data and data about the cam profile and follower path to the tab delimited text file. You can open the saved data in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, if desired. Following columns are generated:

Cam position [deg]
Lift [mm]
Speed [mps]
Acceleration [m/s 2 ]
Pulse [m/s 3 ]
Pressure Angle [deg]
Follower Force [N]
Normal Force [N]
Torque [N m]
Radius of Curvature [mm]
Specific Pressure [MPa]
Profile angle [deg] - polar coordinates
Profile radius [mm]
Profile X coordinate [mm] - Cartesian coordinates
Profile Y coordinate [mm]
Follower path angle [deg] - polar coordinates
Follower path radius [mm]
Follower path X coordinate [mm] - Cartesian coordinates
Follower path Y coordinate [mm]

(More)

Displays additional options for cam design.

Number of Split Points

Gives an accurate, detailed cam calculation, export values (the Calculation option), and part accuracy when inserting into Autodesk Inventor (the Model option). The angle between drawn points is specified by number of points on a circle (360 points means a 1 degree angle distance of points).

Calculation	Number of calculated points.
Model	Number of points generated in Autodesk Inventor.
Cam Direction
	Select cam direction of clockwise or counterclockwise.
Path Type
Click to select the path type. The direction of the path type affects calculation and the Autodesk Inventor model.
Inner	Only lower/inner part.
Outer	Only upper/outer part.
Both	Both parts.
Follower Type
Select the type of the follower.
Translating	Designs a follower with translation motion.
Swinging Arm	Designs a follower with arc path of motion.
Follower Shape
Select the shape of the follower.
Cylinder	Designs follower of cylindrical shape.
Sphere	Designs follower of spherical shape.

Results

To display the Results area on the right side of the Calculation and Design tabs, double-click the double line on the right or click the chevron.

The area displays the limiting values of calculated parameters, result of strength check, and cam shape. Values are calculated when the Calculate command is pressed.

Following output parameters are displayed on the Results pane:

Note: For further description of the calculated parameters, see Engineer's Handbook.

Results
- Max. Lift (h max )
- Min. Lift (h min )
- Max. Pressure Angle (γ max )
- Min. Pressure Angle (γ min )
- Max. Speed (v max )
- Max. Acceleration (a max )
- Min. Acceleration (a min )
Segment
- Motion Start Position (l 0 )
- Lift at Start (h 0 )
- Max. Acceleration (a max )
- Min. Acceleration (a min )
- Max. Pulse (j max )
- Min. Pulse (j min )
- Max. Follower Force (F max )
- Min. Follower Force (F min )
- Max. Normal Force (Fn max )
- Min. Normal Force (Fn min )
- Max. Torque (T max )
- Min. Curvature Radius (+) (Rc min )
- Min. Curvature Radius (-) (Rc min2 )
- Max. Specific Pressure (p max )

Summary of Messages

Displays the reports about calculation. To open the Summary of Messages area at the bottom of the Calculation and Design tabs, double-click the double line at the bottom of tabs or click the chevron at the bottom of the tabs.

Toolbar Commands