# Any way to draw a cam accurately?

**URL:** <https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/any-way-to-draw-a-cam-accurately/2985>\
**Category:** Modeling Questions\
**Created:** [October 8, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/any-way-to-draw-a-cam-accurately/2985 "2018-10-08T15:23:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gw42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@gw42](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/gw42)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/any-way-to-draw-a-cam-accurately/2985/1 "2018-10-08T15:23:48Z")

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I want to draw an increasing radius cam that changes about.002" per degree  
 ![0B730185-8ECE-4411-8F1B-62EA96220A69](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/7/7011c0de94d439c2726586ec7fbc6fc0dbaa13a9.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![tommyn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tommyn/32/1714_2.png) [@tommyn](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/tommyn)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/any-way-to-draw-a-cam-accurately/2985/2 "2018-10-08T17:16:11Z")

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I wonder how much accuracy one really needs in a locking cam? Notwithstanding, I drew a 1” line, rotated a copy using the Transform tool 1 degree and gave new dimension of 1.02. 1/10 the change you wanted. Rinse and repeat… Then I made each segment Tangent to the next. Not a lot of curvature… I would experiment with bigger angle and length increments and refine from there.

Best,

Tommy

![A71584F8-5065-42A1-95B9-6ABC98D0D993](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/0/0699a9725531f3d95c1dff2662140398c170a4a3.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![tommyn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tommyn/32/1714_2.png) [@tommyn](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/tommyn)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/any-way-to-draw-a-cam-accurately/2985/3 "2018-10-08T17:27:29Z")

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Thinking about this some more, the radius of the circle at the max r of the cam will be about 1.6. You might draw circles of different radii and try to make adjacent segments tangent.

And finally search for spiral or helix in the knowledgebase; there is a thread that may be helpful.

Best,

Tommy