ABSTRACT
Same as linkages, cam mechanisms are capable of converting continuous rotational motion into rectilinear or rotary motion that alternate between a lower and an upper limit. As opposed to linkages, however, the correlation between the input and output motions can be precisely programmed and can include one or more dwells, while the mechanism itself may result of smaller size than the equivalent linkage. On the downside, cam mechanisms have lower reliability and are noisier and the follower can bounce. Figure 7.1 shows the schematic of the cam mechanisms considered in this chapter. Cam proŒle generation as follower envelope in an inverted motion (i.e., the follower rotates around the cam that is held stationary) and the problem of kinematic analysis of a given cam-follower pair will be studied in this chapter. ¬e preliminary problem of synthesizing the follower motion is also tackled using AutoCAD interpolating functions and the Util~DXF and Util~TXT programs.
