Cylinderical Cam Cutting

Is it possible to cut a cylindrical, face cam using a universal dividing head on a universal milling machine? or do I need a special cam milling attachment.

sapanshri said:

Is it possible to cut a cylindrical, face cam using a universal dividing head on a universal milling machine? or do I need a special cam milling attachment.

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Yep. It's called a cnc attachment. I don't know why you'd bother trying to do point to point on a manual machine anymore.

HuFlungDung said:

Yep. It's called a cnc attachment. I don't know why you'd bother trying to do point to point on a manual machine anymore.

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because not everyone has a cnc machine and it's nice to practice the old skill sets........just in case.

I think you are speaking of what is more generally known as a "barrel cam". If so, smoothing the surface between the holes will be extremely difficult if the material is steel or cast iron. Not saying it can't be done but what is the cam material and what is the function of the cam? If it is part of a wooden toy - go for it! If it for some precision machine - don't waste your time. For CNC you need a B axis for this kind of cam.

sapanshri said:

Is it possible to cut a cylindrical, face cam using a universal dividing head on a universal milling machine? or do I need a special cam milling attachment.

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Cams are cut from a positive or negative master with a follower mechanism.
To use such a system you will need the ability to disengage one of your horizontal axes, couple the rotation of the master 1:1 with your rotary and couple the cam displacement to your horizontal.
Not for no reason were cam machines a specialist item rather than a simple adaptation.
To practice the traditional skills you will need to buy or build the traditional machine ;-)

sapanshri said:

Is it possible to cut a cylindrical, face cam using a universal dividing head on a universal milling machine? or do I need a special cam milling attachment.

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I forgot to mention that you've posted this in a CAD/CAM forum and that CAM is Computer Aided Manufacture, not the kind of CAM you're asking about ;-)

- Nick

Anything is possible if you have the time and manpower.
Before cnc people would build huge coordinate tables on paper.
One man on each axis and you would call off each tiny move which they would then do and call out "ok" or "done". Then you would feed them the next.
To a cnc curves are a bunch of very tiny straight lines but digital controls are much faster than people.
Fixed rate spirals like a drill flute or constant rate barrel cam can be done with a dividing head which is geared to the machine table like here:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/gunsmithing/helical-cuts-243266/

What I would call a face cam is more like a single auto camshaft lobe.
These geared heads won't help you here and depending on cam shapes there are "tricks" for generating them on manual machines.
My "cam grinders" used such a cam to make various insert shapes and sizes.
(named cam grinders for the cam driven action, actually carbide insert IC grinders, still in use today in many places)
These cams were roughed in on a mill and finished on a whirly-gig which is a spin grind fixture where you can offset the centerlines with stops at the end of your radius.
This makes true radius only not involute curves.

Your question would be better off and get many more answers in the general section.
At this point I'm not sure what type of cam you want to make....