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Great setup to measure cam lift - there are complete books written on cam design and its a complex topic - the company I work for produces commercial software that we sell to the auto companies to enable them to design their cams. A good overview (if simplistic) can be found in the Bosch Automotive Handbook - see attached pic. Cams are usually timed by setting up the angle at peak lift. The initial cam lift you are measuring is the ramp used to make initial contact between the cam and the follower and is a very gentle lift to avoid too much noise - the same for the closing part of the valve where the objective is minimise seat landing velocity. Another area to measure is the full base circle diameter of lift - the highest point of the base circle may not be adjacent to the "quietening" ramp on the valve lift profile. the valve period is usually define as the intersection between the "quietening ramp" - low velocity and the main valve lift - high velocity - part of the cam. See the pic for details.
When modifying cams, best to also look at the velocity and associated acceleration profiles - the limit on accel is generally defined by valve spring force and mass and it is important to avoid loss of contact between the cam and follower at max engine speed
Hope this is helpful - if you make any more measurements, please post them

Kawboy ! I've been following this thread and thought I understood it. Graphs, charts, decimals, curves and durations ? I now believe I see things clearly. You're attempting to get to Mars before N.A.S.A. !

Thanks for the info Neville. I'll be researching a lot before an actual grind. Probably grind a test bar first to see how the profile transfers to the camshaft.
Scotch - not looking to go to Mars. No internet there yet and I'd miss you guys !!

That's a great looking compact lathe Kawboy! I could even fit it here, haha
Glad to see you are doing progress. With proper setup I see no reason why it couldn't be done at home. A few test runs would show what actually can be done beyond theory. I couldn't direct you to any source right now, but at the university we had to design a few things like a gear box, and a camshaft for example. Everything has formulas and you just change the numbers. We were also making precise drawing using descriptive geometry. Helps visualizing having all shapes and numbers in front of you.
A library, especially university library, should have the needed book. Maybe these days there is even an engineering software do automate this? There were no personal computers when I studied. All was done the old fashioned way, and in a different language in my case.

Just found a free download of such software - here . There others available online

StanG wrote: Just found a free download of such software - here . There others available online

Nice!! I'll check it out. Thanks Stan.