Design and machining of cylindrical cam with meshing indexing disc

Abstract

Cams are fundamentally important machine elements, which provide a simple means of generating virtually any follower motion. This paper presents a simple yet comprehensive method for the design and machining of a cylindrical cam with a meshing indexing disc. In the proposed methodology, homogenous coordinate transformation and conjugate surface theory are employed to develop a kinematic model for the cam profile design. The pressure angle and the principal curvature of the designed cam are analysed using the analytical expression derived for the profile. The required NC data equations are obtained by solving the CNC link variables by equating the machine tool ability function with the tool location matrix. The proposed methodology is verified by machining the designed cylindrical cam using a 4-axis CNC machine. The inspection results obtained from a 4-axis CMM show that the profile measurements of the machining cam are in excellent agreement with those of the designed profile. The results confirm that the methodology presented in this study enables the cam design and manufacturing tasks to be successfully integrated. As a result, the production process is flexible, automatic, cost efficient, and controllable.