How to scale a mesh exactly to 850mm lenght?

[cdotrodrigues]

Hello all.

Need to scale this mesh object exactly to 850mm in length? How can I do that? Fusion seems only to allow scale factor as input. thanks

[jhackney1972]

You need to create a proportion. If your existing model is 710mm and you want 850mm, divide 850 by 710 to get a proportion (1.1972)you can use in the Scale command.  Of course the width will increase proportionally also.

[davebYYPCU]

Scale factor or Dimension input.

entering in plain text the equation you need - example - currently it is 250 long, scale factor looks like 

Required / current

850 / 250

Might help....

[cdotrodrigues]

Thanks for the tip but the problem is that the length of the mesh is not an integer value so I need to measure it... One work around I found is checking the boundary box properties of the mesh... then copy to clipboard and copy that length value... then insert the expression in the scale inputbox... This seems to be a wrong way to do things I thought I might measure the mesh using the vertices, faces.... this seems quite awkward not to be able to get some references from the mesh to make a simple scale. I´ve seen many videos and they all perform basic and quite simple scales... 3x, 1.5x, 0.5x but in real life things are not always integer. Of course I can copy the length from he boundary box properties but that value it´s a rounded value so I end up inserting an error in my scale... hope AutoDesk take care of this "scale" function and improve it a bit to make things easier and precise.

[jhackney1972]

The values you use to get the proportion do not necessarily have to be integers or end up with an integer value.  The scale factor can be a decimal value as I illustrated in my post. 

[cdotrodrigues]

I did that... because there is no way to make it right... The mesh has a strange length value. Check the image. I had to copy and insert it "by hand" increasing errors and Fusion already knows that value. All I´m saying is that this boundary length value could be used to perform the scale. Otherwise we need to copy the value to a paper or use "copy to clipboard" and copy past... and there is no need for that. Even AutoCAD has a "reference" option to perform scale.

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@cdotrodrigues wrote:

 I had to copy and insert it "by hand" increasing errors Otherwise we need to copy the value to a paper or use "copy to clipboard" and copy paste... and there is no need for that. 

What is your manufacturing tolerance?

What measuring instrument will you use that can detect this "error"?

Copy and Paste works fine.

[cdotrodrigues]

Well... there are some cases where you can use copy+past... but some cases you need to scale a part so that it matches a face in another body or component... something like a "measure", "reference" is needed in the SCALE command. Check other CAD softwares. Anyway I managed to insert copy+past with some decimal digits but we must agree this is not the best approach... for a great software like Fusion 360.

[cdotrodrigues]

John,

Do you know how to create a boundary box object that encloses a mesh?

Thanks

[davebYYPCU]

Not without Copy Paste.

The Mesh Environment is Limited.

Might help...

[cdotrodrigues]

AutoDesk must improve some thing about Mesh... today we use too much this kind of objects.

A tool like "Create a boundary box that enclosures a mesh" would be nice.

[jhackney1972]

You can open the mesh file, right click on the mesh body in the Browser, and select Properties.  The listing of the Boundary Box is listed and shows the bounding box of  the mesh.

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@cdotrodrigues wrote:

Check other CAD softwares.

.. for a great software like Fusion 360.

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I use other CAD software.

I don’t use Fusion 360.

I generally don’t use mesh geometry as a starting point in design.