Will MASTER cams fade away ?

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swampbuggy
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Will MASTER cams fade away ?

Post by swampbuggy »

With the advent of CNC camshaft grinding/production, will machines guided by master cams become a thing of the past ?? Also, do CNC produced camshafts have a tendency to be more precise ?? Mark H.
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CamKing
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Re: Will MASTER cams fade away ?

Post by CamKing »

Eventually, yes, but it will be a while. A New Landis CNC grinder, and everything you need to operate it, will cost you about $1 million.
For most small to medium cam companies, that's not economically viable. They couldn't see enough cams, to cover the cost of the grinder.

Many of the cam companies that are "CNC" grinding cams now, are using old, used Landis grinders, that were made for OEM production.
They're made to be fast, not accurate. They can grind a SBC flat tappet cam in 8 minutes.

If the cam designs have a negative radius, and need to be ground with a small diameter wheel, there's only a couple of CNC grinders that can handle that, and they're not cheap.

As for being precise, I would put our cams up against any CNC'd cams. We CNC the masters, and grind the cams on Berco grinders
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Walter R. Malik
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Re: Will MASTER cams fade away ?

Post by Walter R. Malik »

swampbuggy wrote: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:21 pm With the advent of CNC camshaft grinding/production, will machines guided by master cams become a thing of the past ?? Also, do CNC produced camshafts have a tendency to be more precise ?? Mark H.
NO ... certainly not in my lifetime.
The operating hysteresis of the machine will usually determine its accuracy, not the type of machine.

I own a Van Normal 253 which makes and uses masters and I am sure that I am not the only person NOT in the camshaft selling business who has one.
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swampbuggy
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Re: Will MASTER cams fade away ?

Post by swampbuggy »

Thanks for the replies Mike and Walter, interesting information. Mark H. :)
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Re: Will MASTER cams fade away ?

Post by Pete1 »

Small 404a..png
Yes, but not in the near future. CNC technology is improving daily but as it does, the machines get more expensive at first. After awhile the cost comes down for a given machine as the technology moves on. A lot of grinding is done by CNC now but it is expensive because it generally has to be rough machined first.
A 20 RA finish by CNC is possible on a cam but it is going to be expensive because it will probably take a couple days to do.

Attached is a pic of a paper weight we did in titanium. It is a scale model of a 404A cam for a flathead Ford with a lifter attached.
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