A Combining Instant Center Method and Custom Macro Program for Plate Cam Machining by Machining Center

This study proposes a plate cam fabrication method that combining instant center method and custom macro functions. The instantaneous center method was used to analyze and design the profile of plate cam and the custom macro functions is used to program the parametric numerical control (NC) program for plate cam machining. Practical examples are introduced to validate the cutting work of CNC machine center with regard to plate cam machining. To analyze the accuracy of cam profiles, the coordination measurement machine (CMM) is used to measure the cam profiles. After practical examples test, this study successfully demonstrated that the proposed method, that of performing plate cam with macro function and parametric CNC program, was practical and advantageous in its simplicity, flexibility, and high efficiency. In addition to the substantial time in design computation that can be saved, the proposed method is believed to be an important step in cam manufacturing technology.