APM Cam

Cam mechanism is the elementary mechanism that is used to transform rotational movement to translation or hobbing motion of pusher. The pusher motion law of cam mechanism is defined by cam geometry and pusher type. Cams are frequently used as control unit providing required motion low.

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APM Cam is intended for cam mechanism calculation and design.

Main Features

• Cam design;
• Function law defined by displacement, velocity, acceleration;
• Working drawing generation.

The following types of cams mechanisms can be designed:

• cam mechanism with roller arm;
• cam mechanism with flat arm;
• cam mechanism with roller rocker;
• cam mechanism with flat rocker.

Fig. 1. Entering the initial data for cam calculation

Initial data

Motion law can be defined as:

• displacement graph;
• velocity graph;
• graph of acceleration by rotation angle of cam.

To design cam mechanism you need to specify cam type, motion law, some geometry parameters of cam and material properties. The universal function editor is used to enter motion law function that can consist of several segments represented as linear segments, splines or any their combination. The function law can be defined as analytic function as well.

Calculation criteria

Cam profile is calculated based on pusher motion law, diameter — based on pressure angle limitation, and pusher width and radius — based on maximum contact stress.

Calculation results

APM Cam let can calculate the following characteristics of cam:

• cam profile both in Cartesian and polar coordinates;
• angle of pressure;
• coordinates of the internal and external envelopings of central profile (for cam with rollers);
• animation of cam behavior;
• create working drawing.

Working drawing generation

With APM Cam you can generate the working drawings of the cam profile in the APM Graph file format. Further it can be exported in DXF file by user request.

Fig. 2. Function editor window

APM Cam allows you to change the geometrical parameters of the cam, motion law, and analyze the graph of speed and acceleration. On the basis of this information you can draw a conclusion about correctness of this cam decision.

Fig. 3. The calculation results – cam animation
and pressure angle graph

Fig. 4. Cam working drawing in APM Graph

Download APM Cam Demo