Dimensional analysis and unit conversion plugin for Cura

On Sep. 23, 1999, $125,000,000 Mars Climate Orbiter entered Mar's atmosphere 100 km lower than planned and was destroyed by heat.

Reason?

NASA engineer mistook conversion factor as 1 lb = 1 Newton (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter)

"lb" is English unit of force. 1 lb = 4.45 N

Force = Mass x Acceleration
= 0.454 kg * 9.81 m/s^2
= 4.45 kg.m/s^2
= 4.45 N ( 1 N = 1 kg.m/s^2)

This $125 million catastrophic event could have been averted with a more careful dimensional analysis and unit conversion.

Can you imagine yourself to be that NASA engineer? It is a terrifying thought!

You can avoid such costly engineering unit conversion mistakes by using Enverter.

Enverter is a dimensional analysis and unit conversion software for engineering and scientific calculations. (Curious about what is Dimensional Analysis? This video migh thelp: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/x2f8bb11595b61c86:working-units/x2f8bb11595b61c86:rate-conversion/v/dimensional-analysis-units-algebraically)

Now, it is less likely that toy will make $125 million mistake while slicing a model but still Enverter can help you save some time and design calculation hassles. It is a great time-saver for frequent and tedious unit conversion calculations

Enverter Web version is completely FREE.

For frequent use, try Enverter CAD add-ins for SolidWorks and Cura and avoid constant switching between CAD application and web-browser.

Download CAD add-ins at https://www.enverter.com/

#engineering #mechanicalengineering #designtools #solidworks #cura #cad

** Please note that it is is easy to get trapped into metric vs imperial/customary unit systems debate **

However, it is often required to carry out dimensional analysis and unit conversion within same unit system - metric or imperial.

Imagine this scenario:

You purchased a brand new DIY 3D Printer and you are trying to calibrate molten filament flow rate through nozzle. You take some measurements in mm^3 / second. But you are having some issues with print quality. You reach out to community on Thingiverse for some help. As it turns out, someone else had same issue and he ran some experiments to get the right flow-rate settings. Just a slight problem, for his experiment, he used cm^3/minute for logging results. Now, you need to convert it back to mm^3/sec for comparison. As you can see, both measurements were in metric system but there is still need for conversion and dimensional analysis.

** I Hope you like it. Share your thoughts/feedback in the comments section. Thank you! **