After reading over a lot of this forum I see Im not the only one who can do 2d stuff but having trouble with 3d toolpaths. I do almost all my design work in solidworks and then import it to Mastercam X. Ive spent quite a few hours trying to do very simple 3D stuff... like the large pocket that has large radius fillet corners ( 0.350 R ) I would just like to do this part with a 0.25 ball end mill. I get a "boundary lies our of construction plane" most of the time. Im open to trying to created some solids in Mastercam X itself if that would help. Do I need to take the imported solidworks files and create a surface? I have also spent some time tinkering with complex curves for another part. Any advise would help as Im totally lost.
Thanks
_Matt

can you post the part you are trying to machine?

here is the file... I hope this will help you guys help me. Whenever I open up a solidworks file into MCX I get an error saying " cannot find the file " so I save it as a Pro E file and then open it... still shows up as a solid. anyway... this works. Anyone have any suggestions on where I could learn more about 3d toolpaths? Thanks again!

Hello,

So I do not think that you have ever used Mastercam Before Right? THere are a wealth of learning resources out there, like this:

http://www.tipsforcadcam.com/store/2045017/category/342301

And it might be a good investment if you are looking to continue down this path. Mastercam is a VERY powerful program, I would say one of the best of its kind.

Looking at your part, in Solidworks, you can ALWAYS export ANY part you want in a Parasolid format. Using this format, you can also export a specific co-ordinate system, so that when you then load your part into Mastercam, your working co-ordinate system has already been oriented ;-)

With your part, doing a surface ->rough-> pocket tool path say with a .25 bull nose mill and then a surface ->finish ->Parallel Steep with a bull mill again and small step-over should allow you to get good results. You might also try experimenting with a couple of different finish toolpaths, until you get the surface finish you want on the part.

Do you know how to specify a stock model in Mastercam, and simulate etc?

I would like to see the Solidworks part model. Also what version is the SW and what version of MC are you running?
Also look at this video.
http://www.mastercam-cadcam.com/samplepart1/samplepart1.html