Exported STL's become microscopic in Slicing software

I am using the SketchUp STL extension.

I draw the part out the size I want lets just say 4 inches square but when I export the stl and load into the slicing software it is about a 1/2 inch square!

I have tried every possible iteration of the export menu along with drawing the part in several different templates. I have tried it two different slicing programs including Cura. No matter what I do the size the of the exported part is always tiny! Note you can barely see the 2 inch cube on the “print bed” in Cura. What am I doing wrong?

This is the same part in SketchUp (I have a one image per post limit)

Here is the export dialog. I have tried every value in both pull downs with the box checked and unchecked. NOTHING I do has any impact on what actually gets into slicer software. It’s like this dialog box does nothing?

Looks like the slicer app, Cura [?], assumes the file’s units are in mm
Can you tell it that the file is in inches rather than mm ?

If not can you scale the value by 25.4 so inches >>> mm within Cura ?

OR if not, then when exporting the STL from SketchUp try selecting the export units as ‘mm’ rather than the ‘model units’ of inches…

Then it should work - as it’ll be exported with 2" >>> 50.8mm ???

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Well I swear I tried that before but it worked this time! Thanks man!

Be aware that the STL file format has no standard field for units. So it may be smart to include the exported units as part of the filename, ie “fancy_cube.mm.stl”, so at least you know when opening in other software, what you need to set the units to.)

Ah! Very good idea! Thank you!

As far as I can tell, 100% of software assumes .stl files are in millimeters. I’m tempted to remove the option for selecting units. Or perhaps make the options to export for specific software such as Cura, NetFabb, 3D Builder, etc.

@rob_a_johnson, does Cura have any options for selecting the stl unit when importing?

If it does I can not find the setting. Sadly, with pull downs and I that does not mean for sure it does not! :wink:

Do you mean the user’s first action of the export is to tell the extension what the destination software is, and then the STL exporter sets all options accordingly ?

If so I like that idea.

Yes, exactly. Can you please enter a feature request for this issue? (I kid). Actually, I should file a request on the GitHub site.

A reminder that I had asked this question:

What about export options set per named 3D Printer profiles ? (If the print head can only be positioned to some tolerance in any axis, then what’s the point of 16 decimal places, when 5 or 6 will do ?)

… in the issue titled: Exporter Precision?