Blender Units for 3D Printing: STL Export Scale
Blender 2.79 unit settings for 3D printing: inches with unit scale 0.0254 and STL export at 25.4, millimeters at 0.001 and export at 1.0, or meters with export at 1000.
Here are my go-to settings for Blender when I am modelling for a 3D Print
Imperial Settings
To design in inches and export an STL file at the proper scale:
- In the Properties Panel, go to the Scene Tab.
- In the Units section, Change the Units to “imperial”, the length to “inches” and the Unit Scale to 0.0254.
- When you export your model as an STL file, set the scale to 25.4.
Metric Millimeter Settings
To design in millimeters and export an STL file at the proper scale:
- In the Properties Panel, go to the Scene Tab.
- In the Units section, Change the Units to “metric”, the length to “millimeters” and the Unit Scale to 0.001
- When you export your model as an STL file, set the scale to 1.000
Metric Meters Settings
Slicers read STL files in millimeters. If you design in meters, a 40 mm part is 0.04 units and lands in the slicer 1000 times too small. To fix it, set the scale to 1000 when you export the STL file (the 2.79 exporter accepts scales from 0.01 to 1000). When you import an STL file back into Blender, set the scale to 0.001. Meters work, but every export and import is a chance to forget the scale, which is why I use the millimeter settings above.