I spent a trying three hours in the Student Machine Shop today, attempting to cut out cams from a section of 3/16" pegboard. This turned out more difficult than I'd have expected, as I'd foolishly selected such a dense material that the laser-cutter was incapable of cutting at speed. I was able to cut about half of the laminate sections for one machine, which was enough to convince me that this wasn't saving any effort.
But hey, at least it looks cool, right?
I've got more than enough cams now, however, to experiment with different profiles over the weekend in a controlled fashion. Tuesday is the next opportunity to use the campus lasercutter, but I'll likely cut new cams tonight using traditional methods. The incorporation of the alignment peg has allowed me to improve the cam mounting system as well -- before and after models seen below.
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| Old cam mounting method, note the professional screw and cotter pin |
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| New cam mounting method, cutaway view |
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| Both cam halves visible here. |
This new design constrains cam motion better, allows installation and removal of cams without tools or permanent modifications, and reduces each cam location dimension to a single cotter pin mounting point -- it looks more complex, but simplifies the installation and construction of the cams greatly. I'm also very optimistic about a split cam, as opposed to a solid cross-section. I believe that this will increase pressure at contact points, increasing the likelihood of non-slip frictional contact there.
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