Notes

Cams are irreqular shaped pieces of material which move

past afollower and thus cause the foilower to move in a
predetermined manner.generally speaking cams are
shaped like discs with an irregular periphery ,they are
mounted upon a shaft which rotates and the follower
usually consists of a pivotted lever with a roller at one end
and the "operated equipment" at the other ,together with
a spring to keep the follower pressed against the
periphery of the cam .as the cam rotates the follower will
move to and from the centre of the cam shaft and the
lever will transmit this movement to the equipment. A will
known example of a cam action is in the petrol engine
where the volves are made to move in a predetermined
.manner . see fig. 1

OBJECT
The object of this experiment is to study the
: following aspects of cam design
To show the relationship between the angular
movement of the cams with a small and its
.follower
To see how this can be applied to a constant
.rise cam with a small and large displacement
To measure the turning force required to on
.one of the above cams
To note the dangers of "overhauling" in cams
.which have a large displacement

APPARAUS
. Large Cam

Ad justable hook

. Knurled Nuts
.10Newton spring Balance

3
1

TEST 1
For this test the 'large' cam is required .wind the
cord clockwise around the pulley and loop the end
on the hook of the spring balance . turn the cam to
the starting position should be zero at this
positino . slide the hook upwards until the 20
degree mark on the cam is opposite the roller then
reed and RECORD the force shown on the balance
scale . Repeat as above , each time increasing the
angle be 20 degrees until 180 degrees is reached it
may be necessary during the test to move the
adjustable hook up one hole to position . to the
zero position. This characteristic is called
'overhauling' and can be dangerous in certain
.circumstances

TEST 2
Rotate the cam to the same positions between 0
degrees and 180 degrees as in test 1 and measure
and RECDRD the distances between the cam
.centre and the centre of follower roller

TEST 3
Remove cam and replace with 'small' cam . Undo
the screws first ,then remove clip with a
screwdriver . Assemble by replacing clip then
screws . Because the rise of this cam is small
(( I .e . its shape is almost circular

It is difficult to measure differences in the force

required to rotate the cam at various angular
positions as carried out in test 1. In this test repeat
as for test 2. And find distance between the cam
center and the center of the follower roller at
positions 0 degree to 180 degrees. Continue
turning the cam beyond the 180 degree position .
in this case the camvals from will not return itself
to zero position . in other words it does NOT
OVERHAUL . In this test continue to make
measurements at 20 degree intervals from to 180
degree to 360 degree

a) As the angle (0) increase (G) in the spring

increases which in turn force (F).
b)The moment arm (M) of the force (F) also
increases as(0) increases .
c) The GRADIENT of cam however decreases
which can clearly be seen by comparing
the slope of lines drawn between two
adjacent 'angle' marke at the adge of
cam.