This is part of my series of tutorials and videos on how to make various machines out of cardboard. Here we take a look at two different types of cams.

A cam is a machine that transfers circular motion into linear motion. In the case of these two machines one hand crank is on the same plane as the linear dowel. And the other hand crank is perpendicular to the linear dowel.

I also have a video so you can watch these cams in action. That video is below.

Watch the 30 second video here:

How to make them and how they work. Here are some guidelines and tips.

One of the most important things to do is round off and smooth the end of the dowel. Here I have 3/16" dowel which smoothly fits into a common plastic straw. I have rounded and smoothed the end with an emery board.

With the dowel rounded it will smoothly move along the circular disk.

The cam on the left transfer perpendicular between a circular crank and a linear dowel. I use this method in my cardboard carousel project. You can see that project here: The cardboard carousel.