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Cam and Follower Mechanism Simulator

Design a disk cam from its motion profile and watch the SVAJ diagrams, pressure angle, radius of curvature, and follower dynamics update live. The lesson cams teach: quality lives in the higher derivatives, so you choose a smooth acceleration and then check the geometry it forces on the cam.

Cam and Follower Experiments FreeCAD Parametric Lesson Planar Mechanics Product Page 2D Mechanisms Analyzer

Parameters

Motion program
45°
90°
90°
90°

Segments fill 360°; any remainder becomes extra dwell. Pick a law-violating profile to see the acceleration jump and jerk spike on the charts.

Cam geometry (mm)
35 mm
10 mm
0 mm
25 mm
Follower & speed
120 rpm
Dynamics
0.80 kg
12000 N/m
60 N
0 N

The follower jumps (loses contact) when the spring + preload can no longer supply the inertia force. Raise the cam speed until the contact-force chart touches zero.

Material & design limits
12 mm
30°
2.5×
Manual cam position
0°

Drag to rotate the cam by hand and read the follower position, pressure angle, and contact force at any angle.

Optional. The charts and summary already update live as you change any parameter; this just forces an immediate full recompute.

Analysis Charts

Every curve is swept across one full cam revolution (0° to 360°). Faint vertical lines mark the segment boundaries and the teal line is the current cam angle. The acceleration and jerk panels are where the fundamental law shows up: a law-violating profile reveals a step in velocity or acceleration at a segment boundary. Drag any parameter and the charts update live.

Compare two configurations:
Motion (SVAJ)
Displacement
Velocity
Acceleration
Jerk

Displacement

Max lift
–
Total rise angle
–
Dwell fraction
–

Velocity

Peak velocity (at speed)
–

Acceleration

Peak acceleration
–
Fundamental law
–

Jerk

Peak jerk
–
Jerk
–
Design checks
Pressure angle
Radius of curvature
Contact force

Pressure angle

Max pressure angle
–
At cam angle
–
Status
–

Radius of curvature

Min radius of curvature
–
Undercut
–
ρmin / roller
–

Contact force & follower jump

Min contact force
–
Follower separates?
–
Jump speed
–
Peak contact stress
–
vs allowable
–

Download Professional Resources

Generated for your exact cam parameters: data, design specs, and a lab report.

📊
Lab Report
Complete report with watermark-free mechanism diagram and all 7 SVAJ + design-check graphs. Includes .MD, .PNG images, and a .DOCX converter.
1 USD
📈
Experimental Data
Full SVAJ + geometry dataset (361 points, 11 variables: s, v, a, j per-radian and per-second, pressure angle, radius of curvature, contact force) in .CSV for your exact cam.
1 USD
📐
Design Data + Animation
Manufacturing specs and design-check verdicts in .TXT, watermark-free .PNG, and one full revolution as a .WEBM video.
1 USD

All resources generated for your exact cam parameters. 1 USD per item, or buy all as a package.