Refrigerator appliances and ice making assemblies having one or more ice ejection cams

An ice making assembly for a refrigerator appliance, the ice making assembly comprising:

• an ice mold defining a plurality of mold cavities for receiving water;
• a heat exchanger in thermal communication with the ice mold to freeze the water and form one or more ice cubes therein;
• a plurality of lifter arms disposed below the ice mold and movable relative to the plurality of mold cavities along a plurality of channel paths between a corresponding lowered and raised position to raise ice cubes within the plurality of mold cavities;
• and
• a cam shaft comprising a plurality of cam lobes slidably engaged with the plurality of lifter arms to direct the plurality of lifter arms between the corresponding lowered and raised position, the cam shaft being rotatable about a cam axis, two or more cam lobes of the plurality of cam lobes being circumferentially offset to stagger movement of corresponding lifter arms of the plurality of lifter arms.

A refrigerator appliance defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction, comprising:

• a cabinet defining a chilled chamber;
• a door being rotatably mounted to the cabinet to provide selective access to the chilled chamber;
• an icebox mounted to the door and defining an ice making chamber;
• and
• an ice making assembly positioned within the ice making chamber, the ice making assembly comprising:
• an ice mold defining a plurality of mold cavities for receiving water,
• a heat exchanger in thermal communication with the ice mold to freeze the water and form one or more ice cubes therein,
• a plurality of lifter arms disposed below the ice mold and movable relative to the plurality of mold cavities along a plurality of channel paths between a corresponding lowered and raised position to raise ice cubes within the plurality of mold cavities, and
• a cam shaft comprising a plurality of cam lobes slidably engaged with the plurality of lifter arms to direct the plurality of lifter arms between the corresponding lowered and raised position, the cam shaft being rotatable about a cam axis horizontally offset from the plurality of channel paths, two or more cam lobes of the plurality of cam lobes being circumferentially offset to stagger movement of corresponding lifter arms of the plurality of lifter arms.