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Plate cam with knife-edge follower (simple harmonic rise)

Name: Plate cam with knife-edge follower (simple harmonic rise) dimension sheet
Creator: Xem Studio
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

How does a plate cam with a knife-edge follower work? · Hardware · basis: Xem Studio design following Brown No. 136 (1868)

Also called: knife-edge follower cam, cam and follower, harmonic cam profile, leva de disco con seguidor de filo, Kurvenscheibe mit Schneidenstößel

Exact dimensions. True size, with no printing tolerance added.

sizes: 5 in table

Notes

A disc cam turning on its shaft lifts a knife-edge follower that slides in a straight guide: the profile is drawn from the displacement law — here simple harmonic rise of 12 mm over 120°, dwell, return, dwell.
Knife-edge: simplest, exact on any convex profile, but high wear; it is the follower of Brown's cam wheel (No. 136).
Drawn at 60° of cam rotation (mid-rise, lift 6 mm) with the follower touching the profile; follower guide 30 × 16 block. Brown's No. 136.
Parts (each has its own page): plate-cam-harmonic-knife-r20-h12, knife-edge-follower-8, follower-guide-block-8.
Brown's movement No. 136 (1868) shows it; this model is a Xem Studio design following his figure, every part at true size.

Plate cam with knife-edge follower size chart

parameter	value
base circle	R20
rise	12 mm / 120°
law	simple harmonic
follower	knife-edge
pose	60°, lift 6 mm

Where the files are

Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.

Henry T. Brown (1868, public domain)	Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements — scan on archive.org	web	Publisher's page; dimensions are facts
507movements.com	Brown's movement No. 136: figure, his text and an animation	web	Publisher's page; dimensions are facts

Free files

★ Free files 1 parts. Generated by Xem Studio from the standard; threads are plain cylinders at major diameter. CC BY 4.0. index.json

plate-cam-knife-follower-mechanism-assembly

Assembled mechanism, all parts placed at one pose (STEP keeps each part separate)

STEP · STL

Let your AI pull this. Add https://xemstudio.com/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client (free, no account, one minute) and it can look up exact sizes, mating fits and free STEP/STL from every chat.

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Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=plate-cam-knife-follower-mechanism

Plate cam with knife-edge follower (simple harmonic rise), isometric render of a generated part — Render of plate-cam-knife-follower-mechanism-assembly from the free STEP; not to scale.

Fits with

Free

Plate cam, simple harmonic rise 12 mm, base circle R20, for a knife-edge follower, isometric render of a generated part

Plate cam, simple harmonic rise 12 mm, base circle R20, for a knife-edge follower53.71×52.0×6.0 mm★ 1 file Free

Knife-edge cam follower, 8 × 6 mm, 60 long, isometric render of a generated part

Knife-edge cam follower, 8 × 6 mm, 60 long8.0×60.0×6.0 mm★ 1 file Free

Follower guide block 30 × 16 × 6 for an 8 mm wide follower, isometric render of a generated part

Follower guide block 30 × 16 × 6 for an 8 mm wide follower30.0×16.0×6.0 mm★ 1 file

Questions

How does a plate cam with a knife-edge follower work?

A disc cam turning on its shaft lifts a knife-edge follower that slides in a straight guide: the profile is drawn from the displacement law — here simple harmonic rise of 12 mm over 120°, dwell, return, dwell.