I've been getting comfortable with my CNC router and with time on my hands I decided to move into true 3D. I downloaded the free version of Fusion 360 and began the learning process. At this point I'm not as interested in the modeling side of the program but rather the manufacturing side of the program. I downloaded a fairly simple STL file and was successful in generating the needed Toolpaths. What I don't understand is how to scale an existing STL file. The model size is huge as determined during the process. I would appreciate some advice on the best way to determine the dimensions and how to scale these files. Thank you all in advance! I have included the STL file I have been experimenting with.
To scale .stl, or other files: Step 1) Measure your item's dimensions: Step 2) Modify --> select "scale" and select the "entities" you want scaled: Step 3) Choose your scaling value. Original is 1.0. Then, I chose 0.5 (1/2 scale) for this example: Now you can see it is 1/2 the diameter it used to be - - or approximately, because I do not know if I chose the exact same two points to measure: This works really well for those dinosaur skeleton type wooden puzzles. If they are designed for 3mm ply wood, but you only have access to 3.175 mm, you do the formula (what I have/what the design calls for = scale factor). So in my case it was 3.175 divided by three giving me a scale factor of 1.058333333333. I just used this principle yesterday and it worked great.
For those that did not look at your file, I downloaded it for this example and yes, that was a huge (nearly 1 meter) rosette. What I have found to be fairly consistent when I upload .stl files to Fusion 360, is that if they are way off scale, it is usually by a factor of ten - most are 10 times too large. Every once in a while it is 1/10th scale. So when I am trying to figure out what dimension lumber it was designed for (if it is huge), I try 0.1 as the scale factor first.
