Now Available as Both a Softbound Book and as an E-book

Author: Robert L. Norton, Milton P. Higgins II Distinguished Professor Emeritus Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Publisher: Norton Associates LLC
Copyright 2020, 130 pp.
ISBN 978-1-64921-838-4 (Softbound)
ISBN 978-1-64786-004-2 (E-book)

An Introduction to the Art and Science of Cam Design

Designing Cam mechanisms well is a complex undertaking. What sets Cam Design, a Primer, apart is the author’s fifty years of experience in identifying, analyzing, and fixing problems with Cam mechanisms.

Many textbooks either overlook Cam design or provide outdated and incorrect information. This book explains the techniques that yield consistently good results. 

The mathematics involved in Cam design requires understanding algebra, trigonometry, and simple differential calculus. Practitioners can perform calculations with Excel spreadsheets, or more advanced tools like MathCad and TKSolver may be used. This book will ensure that you have the necessary skills and tools at your disposal. 

This book also includes a free copy of the author’s Cam design program, Dynacam Student Edition, which is distributed with many of his textbooks. This program allows you to create cams like those defined in this book.

Covering introductory topics in depth, this primer provides the basic information needed to design cam-follower systems, including:

• How NOT to design a cam
• How to properly design a cam
• Good and bad choices of cam functions
• Good and bad choices of pressure angle
• Radius of curvature
• Roller and flat followers
• Translating followers