ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Helical camshaft

A helical camshaft is a part of an engine that makes sure everything in the engine moves at the right time. Imagine you were the boss of a toy factory that makes toy cars. You need to make sure that all the wheels, doors, and mirrors are added in the right order, and everything is put together correctly.

Now, imagine your factory is the engine of a car, and instead of toys, you have metal parts that need to be moved in a very specific way. That's where the helical camshaft comes in - it helps make sure that everything in the engine moves smoothly and at the right time.

The camshaft is a part shaped like a big stick, and it has an odd shape with bumps and grooves on it. Think of it like a bumpy road that your toy car has to follow, with hills and dips in it.

When the camshaft turns, the bumps and grooves push little metal arms called lifters up and down. These lifters then push other metal parts in the engine, like valves and pistons, to move in the right way - opening and closing at the right time, and pushing air and fuel through the engine in a specific pattern.

The "helical" part of the camshaft's name means that the bumps and grooves aren't just straight up-and-down - they're twisted in a spiral shape. This helps the engine run more smoothly, because instead of jerking the metal parts around, the camshaft can move everything in a more gradual, controlled way.

So, in short, a helical camshaft is a part that helps the engine of a car or other machine run smoothly by moving everything in the right way at the right time, using bumps and grooves on a stick-shaped part called the camshaft.