neuronex thank u for the tutorial.i already had a glance thru it some days back but the datum graph holds nightmare for me..i m unable to appreciate its relevance with CAMs specifically?...how to relate cam parameters such as base circle,prime circle,pressure angle,pitch circle etc with the datum graph..
look what i intend to do is that i have two steel rods hanging from the ceiling.i need to shine a laser beam onto the bottom ends of the rods .now for this i have a small box(very light weight)(consider a shoe box) having a laser pen at the middle.the angular distance between these two ends of rods is 120 degrees as SEEN from the ground where this box is.so i need to give a 120 degrees rotation to the box to serve my purpose..dat is..first laser spot on the 1st rod then on 120 degree sweep..to the other end......i intend to have this done with a cam coupled with a stepper motor.
so for a cam rotation of ,say,90 degree,i want the box to rotate 120 degree(this is simple harmonic and a oscillating cam problem).i.e a rise of 120*pie/180*the length of the box=gives the chordal/arc lenght which gives the rise.and a 120 degree return stroke for a CAM rotation of 90 degrees.no dwell...this comes out to be 180 degree total..not closed.i.ee not 360 full degrees.
how to design the cam profile ? i have tried this on solidworks as it has a toolbox and cam templates but yet again i do not understand the nomenclature and input it requires from me..the terminology it uses just doesnt coincide with the conventional nomenclature of cams.
HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!