Ok great! The file works now just as long as I zero Z at the bottom of the piece. New question. I have been setting my spindle speed and feed rates according to my training manuals, however they think I'm using aluminum which I'm not. I'm using wood. What are some recommended speeds and rates? So far the parts take an extremely long time to mill. Thanks!

I tried moving the origin up but that didn't help. So I just zeroed the machine out to the bottom of the piece and that worked. Wicked newbie mistake

Hi all, Yes this is an educational version. So I assume most of you guys don't run educational versions. Which stinks for me G Zero...I tried zeroing out my machine to the bottom of the piece and that works! I thought about doing that before but I just wanted to figure it out. My question now is why would I have to zero out at the bottom of the piece for 3D milling but it lets me zero the top for 2D milling. Thanks everyone for all the help!! Mark

So I have zeroed out the Z at the bottom of the workpiece. The G code is setting the Z at 1.12. No matter what I change the G code never changes. The X and Y axis line every time. I used the view manager to put the origin on the bottom of the piece and i changed the Z setting to zero in the bounding box in stock settings. That didn't help. Where else can I change the settings? Also when I run the simulation I notice now that the Z is set to 1.0 and the X and Y are set to 0 Bear with me as this is my first time with solidworks and mastercam. Thanks

HI, I am brand new to this forum. I am also brand new to using solidworks and mastercam AND CNC machines. I just posted this same problem in the educational forum but was told this forum has more traffic so here I am. I bought some training books for mastercam X7 2D and 3D milling. The 2D milling worked fine and I was able to draw and mill all the parts in the sample lessons. I just finished drawing my first 3D mill lesson and have run the simulated backplot which works fine. I have zeroed out my mill so it knows where the work piece is. However when I run the program it jogs the spindle about 1 inch above the work piece and starts cutting. So its cutting nothing but air. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I zeroed out my CNC the same way I did with the other programs. Do I have somthing wrong set in the surface parameters? My machine is an apprentice 404 from industrial CNC and I'm using the Mach 3 software. I also have attached the zipped solidworks file that has the tool path all laid out. Thank you Mark Mill-Lesson-9.zip

Ok so here the zipped file of my solidworks drawing that also has the toolpaths laid out with X7. I'll also post this in the industrial forum. Thanks Mark Mill-Lesson-9.zip

So its saying that I am not permitted to upload my solidworks file or my G-code file. How else can I send it to you? I rechecked all my parameters and they are at absolute. I am following a training guide so I have everything set to what they tell me to set it at. Like I said before my 2D mills have been fine. Are the 3D parameters drastically different? I noticed that the parameter options are a little different but everything seems in order. Thanks Mark

HI, I am brand new to this forum. I am also brand new to using solidworks and mastercam AND CNC machines. I bought some training books for mastercam 2D and 3D milling. The 2D milling worked fine and I was able to draw and mill all the parts in the sample lessons. I just finished drawing my first 3D mill lesson and have run the simulated backplot which works fine. I have zeroed out my mill so it knows where the work piece is. However when I run the program it jogs the spindle about 1 inch above the work piece and starts cutting. So its cutting nothing but air. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I zeroed out my CNC the same way I did with the other programs. Do I have somthing wrong set in the surface parameters? My machine is an apprentice 404 from industrial CNC and I'm using the Mach 3 software. Thank you Mark