# Scaling in PrePoMax **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [February 11, 2024, 12:12am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078 "2024-02-11T00:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lt72884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@Lt72884](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Lt72884)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 12:12am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/1 "2024-02-11T00:12:02Z")
Ok, i have watched some youtube videos that were recommended to me by users on the last thread. Usually scalling is not an issue, but when your importing a file from another program or creator, it can pose issues. Here is my current situation. In my cad software (freecad) i have my file i made. Its a 62 meter in length object i downloaded off of grab cad. (to any users from the freecad forum, this is NOT the NREL blade) I set the export to meters for the step file in freecad. It is solid, and imports solid into prepomax. however, its HUGE, 62000 meters HUGE. I did set the new file to meters in Prepomax. Thanks 🙂 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/e/e5a8c796290a9ff990f6661551d9be4755339183.png) ---
**Author:** ![Lt72884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@Lt72884](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Lt72884)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/2 "2024-02-11T00:13:04Z")
![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/3/30a40b886c2c32fe3ba6fb9b633174753a06af85.png) ---
**Author:** ![jbr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecccb3/32.png) [@jbr](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/jbr)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 12:37am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/3 "2024-02-11T00:37:01Z")
Change your default settings in Prepomax. ---
**Author:** ![Lt72884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@Lt72884](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Lt72884)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/4 "2024-02-11T01:01:30Z")
under tools, settings, which category are you referring too? switching the default units in the general tab still produces the same result : ) ---
**Author:** ![Calc\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Calc\_em](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Calc_em)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/5 "2024-02-11T01:18:23Z")
It might be easiest to export in mm and scale the part in PrePoMax as shown in the tutorial with PrePoMax + FreeCAD CFD. ---
**Author:** ![jbr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecccb3/32.png) [@jbr](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/jbr)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/6 "2024-02-11T02:11:31Z")
Latest version of prepomax have a scaling option for parts. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/7/7dc913a922a730bd280122e6a9b473a4e08882a0.png) ---
**Author:** ![Lt72884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@Lt72884](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Lt72884)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 3:40am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/7 "2024-02-11T03:40:56Z")
the youtube video number 32 correct? thanks ---
**Author:** ![xyont](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/xyont/32/3553_2.png) [@xyont](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/xyont)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 6:04am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/8 "2024-02-11T06:04:32Z")
Step is an Ascii format, and it can be opened in any Text editor. Length units setting can be modified manually but with caution, change `$` prefix to `.MILLI.` to set the model in millimeter units instead of meter in length. `LENGTH_UNIT() NAMED_UNIT(*) SI_UNIT(.MILLI.,.METRE.)` this unit setting is available at the end of block data in Step files, ![2024-02-11 12_58_48-box.step - SciTE](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/2/27fd628367354781cb15d2eda523f32107c88691.png) ---
**Author:** ![Calc\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Calc\_em](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Calc_em)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/9 "2024-02-11T12:04:24Z")
Yeah, but I realized that there I did the scaling in FreeCAD and used SI(m) unit system in PrePoMax. You can do the scaling in PrePoMax too though. ---
**Author:** ![Lt72884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@Lt72884](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Lt72884)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/scaling-in-prepomax/2078/10 "2024-02-11T17:42:42Z")
You made those videos? They are really good. Yeah, the scale tool in prepomax is just like SketchUps or prusa slicer, so i just scaled by 0.001 in all directions. Now my blade is correct. Here is what is interesting to me. A 300 by 60mm, 2nd order mesh with constraints etc, took 61 seconds to solve. But if i use a 200 by 60 mm mesh, it takes over 20 minutes to solve haha. Going to try a 100 by 60 and see. Im comparing deflection values for convergence analysis, but i have a feeling since from 300 to 200, deflection changed by roughly 50mm, that 300 or even 250 mesh size is just fine. But the cool part, it matches my force analysis i did by hand and my results from openfast. Hand calcs is 8.44 m deflection Openfast 7.8 Prepomax 9.65 Now to continue prepomax and also fatlab (at some point haha)