objects created are tiny when brought into CURA

[joblake326]

I just started having this problem where the objects that I create in Fusion are really small in CURA.

For instance if I create a 1" diam sphere in Fusion and save it as an .stl, when I bring that file into CURA, it looks like it's 1/10 the size it should be. I've uninstalled everything and it still doesn't look like it should. I know that it's too small because CURA says that the print time estimate is 0 seconds and it weighs 0 grams

[HughesTooling]

Temporarily change your units to mm, export then change the units back. Units are under document settings in the browser.

Mark

[HughesTooling]

Another option is to send directly to the printer, I couldn't get this to work with cura though works fine with Simplify3d.

Mark

[joblake326]

I've been changing the units from mm to inch in "Preferences" and I've noticed that sometimes it doesn't seem to stick; i.e. it reverts back to mm.  Are you thinking that my 1" object is really 1mm?  Is changing it in Documents different than Preferences? Is this a bug?

-Thanks!

[HughesTooling]

STL files have no unit info in them so if you export a 1" sphere it will be 1 unit in the stl, if the program importing the file does not use the same units it will be 1 of whatever unit that program is set to. All the slicers I've tested expect mm so your import should end up 1mm.

Changing the units in preferences is not going to change the units of existing files, if the file you are working on in inches you need to change it from document setting in the browser, right of screen.

Mark

[joblake326 · Accepted solution]

(as I wrote this response, things started to come into focus---so sorry if it rambles a bit)
hmmm that’s very interesting. I didn’t know that. Though I’m not sure why it did work for a couple days.
However there does seem to be a correlation between the problem presenting itself and my screwing around with Fusion 360’s “Refinement Options” (to the point of crashing Fusion).
Seemed like that was when things went south.
Although, now that I think about it, there have been times when CURA opened my STL file and rather than being tiny---it is so big that it won’t fit in the window. Maybe that’s the opposite transposition of mm’s and inches?
So if I want to work in inches in Fusion—I should do it by changing Document Settings, Change Active Units...do I leave Preferences as is?
In summary, if I understand what you’re telling me, here’s what seems to be happening:
I set my sphere’s diameter to 1 inch on the screen but it makes an STL file that is 1mm because my Document Setting is set to mm not inches?
Something like that?
Thanks Mark,
-John