Save as STL problems

[live4speed]

I'll keep this short because it's pretty simple.

1) When I select a body or component, right-click and Save as STL, I expect it to keep that orientation.  I have placed it how I want my part printed in XYZ and that's how it should be saved.  The Autodesk 3D Printer Utility is useless because it only provides me with two options related to support material calculations, and they're both automatic based on NO input from me.  I don't want to get netfabb involved - it's a messy application.  Sketchup, 123D Design, 3DS Max don't have this silly issue.

2) When I save said part to STL, it should stop printing out ~68.75% scale (48mm in software, prints 33mm).  This wasn't a problem 6 months ago.  I dusted off the printer and launched F360 for the first time since 6/2013 and it performed a mandatory update - and suddenly my entire workflow is destroyed.  I've wasted half a spool of PLA trying to troubleshoot where this scaling issue is coming from, and I've singled it out to F360's "Save as STL" command.  Sketchup is fine.  123D Design is fine (haven't updated it).  3DS Max 2014 is fine.  My units are in mm.  Let me repeat that - I create a new part in F360 with units in mm, right-click the component (or body) and select Save as STL, which opens a little dialog at the right (I make no changes) and save the file.  I slice it with Slic3r and print it with Pronterface - it is ~69.75% of the designed file.  No other applications I have access to cause this to happen and I did test prints with all of them.

Thank you

[schneik-adsk]

We will get on it right away!

[schneik-adsk]

Where are you loading up the stl file where are you measuing and seeing the scale is off.

I am trying to reproduce your problem.

[schneik-adsk]

Can you look at this stl file and tell me what size it is in your stl tools?

[live4speed]

Hi Kevin, I didn't expect anyone working over the weekend, but I will begin to document my process closer. Check back in a few..

[live4speed]

First things first: Orientation

Pics should explain it.  It is flat on Z and 'Grounded'.  Right-click on the component, Save as STL, tick the Send to 3D Print checkbox, and continue...you get the second image in Autodesk 3D Print Utility 1.1.1

[live4speed]

Second: Odd scaling behavior - problem not evident in software

All dimensions look right in F360.  Right-click the component, Save as STL, tick Send to 3D Print (or not, doesn't matter), preview in Autodesk 3D Print Utility, tick Support Material: Minimize to get proper orientation, dimensions look right, click Save...

[live4speed]

In my slicing app (Slic3r 0.9.10b) it also looks fine, except it's a little twisted looking.  But it certainly doesn't print out that way.

Save the gcode and load it into my printer host software (Pronterface in Printrun release 2013.10.19).  I don't know how large the tiles are for reference but the X/Y dimensions seem right with the surrounding skirt loop at 6mm.  ~51mm - (2 * 6mm) = ~39mm = darn close to my 38mm original X/Y dimensions.  So looks good... until it starts printing.  Included an aborted print, notice it is only ~31mm.  Dia of center hole should be 8.6mm but is printed at 5.5mm.

[live4speed]

And for comparison's sake, here's a STL part saved from the Fusion 360 I was running on August 29, 2013 - I ran it through the same slicing app with the same settings used on the example above.  Used the same host software and same printer.  That dimension is 28mm in the software and printed no greater than 29mm at the widest (first) layer - certainly good enough for me.

[live4speed]

It appears as 20x20x20mm. My parts also appear to be the correct size.

[schneik-adsk]

So orientation remains a problem though, yes?

[live4speed]

That's correct. If you look at images in post 6 they show a part grounded on Z and 3mm tall (Z), then the resulting STL is oriented 90 degrees off in the second image.

[schneik-adsk · Accepted solution]

The current 3D print utility tries to minimize the ammount of support mateial.  For thin planes like this, that results in it choosing an orientation 90 from what is most logical.

I have moved away from using the 3D print utility an use the latest release of Meshmixer (http://www.meshmixer.com/download.html).  It has a dedicated print preview with complete control over orentation.

We will be moving away from "send to 3d print utility" and support direct connection to mesh mixer in April.  If you can live with saving the stl and opening it in meshmixer for now you will have a cleaner workflow.

[live4speed]

Kevin, that will work for me, thank you for the solution.  It's too bad that things change so often and result in (some) users to fight with it.  There are some scenarios where I need to print a part with a certain orientation because it will be stronger than the 'norm'.  If it could just use how I have it placed in Fusion, or make "use Fusion orientation" and "send to Meshmixer" as options on the Save as STL screen in the future that would be ideal.  Obviously I used a very simple part for demonstration.  The one I had been trying to print is a 4"x4" complex shape with an obtuse angle which needed a certain orientation to maintain proper hole circularity.

[live4speed]

Consider this thread closed I guess. Meshmixer gives me the control I need and I also realized the 'Front' view consistently serves as the printer 'Top' view when saving an STL file. Not intuitive, but I can work with it.

My second problem was a coincidence and so far I don't believe the software is the sole issue. If I find anything else I will post up again.

Thanks for your time Kevin

[Anonymous]

With the new update, I cannot export to .stl files. It appears that the software also doesn't accomodate for z-suite and the zortrax printers....

[Anonymous]

I had just missed the save as .stl area. However the incompatibility with z-suite remains......