Cam Design A Primer

This book attempts to rectify a problem that the author has observed during his fifty years of consulting on cam design with many companies. He frequently encountered situations where the cams with problems were not properly designed, which led to the bad result. As a professor who has taught cam design and machine design at universities for over 40 years, he knows, first hand, that mechanical engineering students in most U.S. schools were never taught about cams and cam design. Most of the textbooks on related subjects either ignore cams or present information that is both obsolete and wrong about cams in many respects. Proper cam design only requires the adherence to a few simple rules. The mathematics involved only requires an understanding of algebra, trigonometry, and simple differential calculus. Calculation of cam mathematics really requires the use of a computer. At a minimum, a spreadsheet can do the calculations, but they are more easily done with an equation processor such as MATLAB, MathCad, or TKSolver, all inexpensive engineering tools. This book also provides a free copy of the author's cam design program, DYNACAM STUDENT EDITION, which is also distributed with others of his many textbooks. This program will allow you to create cams such as are defined in this book.