CAMS AND FOLLOWERS

Syllabus – CAMs with uniform acceleration and retardation, cycloidal motion, oscillating
followers

1. Cam is a mechanical member which is used to impart the desired motion to the follower.
2. Cam may be rotating or reciprocating while the follower may be rotating, reciprocating
or oscillating.
3. Complicated output motions which are otherwise difficult to achieve may be easily
achieved by the cams.
4. Cams are used in the automatic machines, internal combustion engines, machine tools
and printing presses.
5. Necessary elements of a CAMS are the cam, follower and the support.
6. For the followers the springs are used to keep them in position.
7. CAMS are classified according to
 Shape
 Follower movement
 Manner of constraint of the follower
8. According to the shape the cams are classified into:
 Wedge and Flat Cams
 Radial and Disc Cams
 Spiral Cams
 Cylindrical Cams
 Conjugate Cams
 Globoidal Cams
 Spherical Cams
9. According to the follower movement
 Rise-Return-Rise
 Dwell-Rise-return-Rise-Dwell
 Dwell-Rise-Dwell-Return-Dwell
10. According to the manner of constraint of follower
 Pre-Loaded Spring Cams
 Positive Drive Cams
 Gravity Cams
11. The followers are classified on the basis of the:
 Shape
 Movement
 Location of line of the movement
12. According to the shape
 Knife edge follower
 Roller follower
 Mushroom follower
13. According to the movement
 Reciprocating follower
 Oscillating follower
14. According to line of movement
 Radial follower
  Offset Follower
15. Some definitions
 Base circle – It is the smallest circle tangent to the cam profile drawn from the
center of rotation of radial cam
 Trace point – It is the reference point on the follower to trace the cam profile
 Pitch curve – It is the curve drawn by the trace point assuming that the cam is
fixed.
 Pressure angle – It represents the steepness of the cam profile, it is the angle
between the normal to the pitch curve at a point and the direction of the follower
motion. It varies in magnitude at all instants of the follower motion.
 Pitch point – It is the point on the pitch curve at which the pressure angle is
maximum.
 Pitch circle – It is the circle passing through the pitch point and concentric to the
base circle.
 Prime circle – The smallest circle drawn tangent to the pitch curve is known as
the prime circle.
16. The following terms are used with respect to the angular motion of the cam: -
 Angle of ascent
 Angle of dwell
 Angle of descent
 Angle of action – total angle between the beginning of rise and end of the return
of the follower
17. Following points need to be considered while designing the cams:
 The dynamic effects of acceleration limit the speed of the cams.
 For reducing the lateral force, the value of the pressure angle needs to be
reduced and thus we have it reduces the dwell period so an optimum value of
the pressure angle need to be obtained.
 The size of the base circle controls the pressure angle
18. Some basic displacement motions are
 Simple Harmonic motion:
 Constant Acceleration: In this follower program there is acceleration in the first
part whereas there is deceleration during the second half. The magnitude of
acceleration and deceleration is constant and same during the second half.
 Cycloidal: A cycloidal is the locus of the point moving on the straight line.