Trouble with Cam path on a cylinder

[Anonymous]

I am working on a cylindrical cam and running into issues with the path cutout. As you can see in the pictures, there are two areas where sweep runs into some problems. I don't believe the sweep path is folding back over itself.

The area the cam path height change is in is very small, only 22.5 degrees of change going from left to right, and .150" height change.

I've tried opting for a curved inside instead of right angles and end up with this,

But I'm wondering if any of you wonderful people have a better idea.

[jhackney1972]

You need to attach your model so the forum users can take a look.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is the preferred way to share the model, but here is a .f3d file of the cylinder.

[TheCADWhisperer]

[video]

Your solution is not too bad, but it could be better - and far far less work in creation of the geometry.

[jhackney1972]

Wow!  That is a lot of work planes and sketch points.  I will not try and understand your model but I would like to offer another possible solution.  I have attached my model with an arbitrary cam path around a drum.  Take it apart and see if it is a better method to develop yours.  Look in the browser and find  Analysis and turn on Section 1.  You will see that the cam faces are square to the drum surface.  The small notch in the side has to be there but it can be made very narrow.

If this is a possibility for you and you cannot figure out the process, let me know and I will do a Screencast showing step by step.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@jhackney1972 

Your slot is not correct.  It should be tangent to follower anywhere in the slot (with a follower pin same size as slot - think of this as the end mill used to cut the slot).

You can verify this by Sweep-Cut of Solid Body in Autodesk Inventor Professional 2020 or 2021.

[jhackney1972]

My apologies for the poor calculation and model.