Specifications
BASIC commands
PROGRAMMING MANUAL 41
Revision 5.0
3.2.44 CAM
/i
Type Axis command
Syntax CAM(start_point, end_point, table_multiplier, distance)
Description The CAM command is used to generate movement of an axis following a
position profile which is stored in the TABLE variable array. The TABLE val-
ues are absolute positions relative to the starting point and are specified in
encoder edges. The TABLE array is specified with the TABLE command.
The movement can be defined with any number of points from 3 to the maxi-
mum table size available (64000). The TJ1-MC__ moves continuously
between the values in the TABLE to allow a number of points to define a
smooth profile. Two or more CAM commands can be executed simultane-
ously using the same or overlapping values in the TABLE array. The TABLE
profile is traversed once.
CAM requires that the start element in the TABLE array has value zero. The
distance argument together with the SPEED and ACCEL parameters deter-
mine the speed moving through the TABLE array. Note that in order to follow
the CAM profile exactly the ACCEL parameter of the axis must be at least
1000 times larger than the SPEED parameter.
CAM works on the default basis axis (set with BASE) unless AXIS is used to
specify a temporary base axis.
Arguments • start_point
The address of the first element in the TABLE array to be used.
Being able to specify the start point allows the TABLE array to hold more
than one profile and/or other information.
• end_point
The address of the end element in the TABLE array.
• table_multiplier
The Table multiplier value used to scale the values stored in the TABLE.
As the Table values are specified in encoder edges, use this argument to
set the values for instance to the unit conversion factor (set by UNITS
parameter).
• distance
A factor given in user units that controls the speed of movement through
the Table. The time taken to execute CAM depends on the current axis
speed and this distance. For example, assume the system is being pro-
grammed in mm and the speed is set to 10 mm/s and the acceleration
sufficiently high. If a distance of 100 mm is specified, CAM will take 10
seconds to execute.
The SPEED parameter in the base axis allows modification of the speed
of movement when using the CAM move.
Note: When the CAM command is executing, the ENDMOVE parameter is
set to the end of the previous move.