Exporting to STL shrinks my file

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

Hi community,
I am new to 3d modeling and trying to get into 3d printing. I’ve included a link to my first model and art project in 3d. I’ve already spent about 2-3 hours today trying to trouble shoot some of them problems.

1) I am having an issue when exporting my files to an STL format. It’s shrinking them down whenever I bring them into a 3d printing software. Has anybody else encountered that problem?

2) One of my designs is encountering errors when I try to upload it to http://i.materialise.com. It’s the file labeled sidepiece.3dm . I tried to create a Boolean Union on it hoping to avoid the errors but not all the pieces are working. Any advice on why some pieces can join but others won’t?

Here are my files; https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sw1ygn10mrakplb/AACgyL6E00VjzW6q6AjW53jra?dl=0

Thanks for any tips in advance! Adam

2

  1. The STL format does not carry information on units. Your file does not know if you have modelled in meters, inches, lightyears, … You will have to make sure in the receiving application that the units are set correctly.

  2. It would be better if you started with the curves (all circles) and trimmed and joined them (use CurveBoolean) before extruding into a polysurface.

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Thanks for the tips.

  • Adam