SWARF Machining
5-axis flank milling of ruled surfaces with the side of the tool — one smooth pass instead of dozens of point-milling stepovers.
SWARF in ENCY 3 — what changed and why it matters
One pass with the side of the tool
- SWARF machines ruled surfaces — walls, flanges, blades, tapered pockets — with the side face of the mill instead of its tip.
- The full wall height is finished in a single sweep, so there are no stepover cusps to blend and no hours of point-milling passes.
- It is a true 5-axis operation: the tool axis tilts continuously along the trajectory, automatically or under manual control.
- Typically used for finishing, with optional radial roughing passes in the same operation.
Three tool-axis strategies, one parameter
- Auto — the system finds the optimal non-gouging tilt along the whole trajectory on its own.
- Shortest distance — the tool follows the shortest line between the lower and upper curves.
- Normal to guide curve — the tool stays perpendicular to the guide curve when the job is defined by its bottom edge.
- An extra lean angle and interactive custom vectors are there when you want to override the strategy at specific points.
Auto mode picks the non-gouging path
- In ENCY 3 the Auto strategy computes the tool path with the least cuts and defects — gouge avoidance is built into the calculation, not patched afterwards.
- Corners, radii and transitions that used to need hand-tuned tilt vectors now come out clean by default.
- Manual sync lines between the upper and lower curves are no longer necessary — Auto handles the synchronization itself.
Break closed contours
- Closed walls no longer force a closed toolpath: negative start/end tangent values trim the loop open.
- That gives you a controlled entry and exit instead of a weld-seam start point on a finished wall.
- Positive values extend the pass beyond the wall edges — the same control works in both directions.
Axial passes — when one sweep is not enough
- Tall walls or heavy stock: split the flank cut into axial levels by step, by count, or down to a given depth.
- Radial roughing passes can be added in the same operation, ordered by levels or by strings.
- Breakthrough handling shifts the tool along its axis when undercuts are detected.
Simple jobs stay simple, complex jobs stay possible
- By bottom edge — pick one curve, set the height, done. The fastest way to swarf a constant-height wall.
- By two curves — pick the lower and upper edges for exact control of non-parallel boundaries and interrupted walls.
- Support meshes and interactive custom tool vectors cover the geometry the automatic modes cannot fully describe.
- Climb or conventional milling, machining order up or down, extend/trim of the first and last segments — all under your control.
Frequently asked questions
SWARF (flank) machining is a 5-axis milling technique that cuts ruled surfaces with the side face of the tool. The whole wall height is machined in one pass, which gives a better surface finish and dramatically shorter cycle times than point milling with a ball nose.
Ruled surfaces — surfaces that can be swept by a straight line: straight or tapered walls, flanges, blade-like faces. For doubly-curved surfaces ENCY offers 5D Surfacing and Blade Milling instead.
No. In ENCY 3 the Auto tool-axis strategy synchronizes the upper and lower curves and finds a gouge-free tilt automatically. Sync lines remain available as an optional manual control for special cases.
Yes. The operation supports axial passes (by step, by count, or to a depth) and radial roughing passes, so a wall can be roughed and finished within a single SWARF operation.
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