thomas and friends mini series

That is awesome. What would you guess the cost in materials are to print that? I'm lobbying the financial officer of the house on the purchase of a printer.

The cost would obviously depend on how much you pay for filament. When I first built my printer, I started off with some cheap filament while getting to grips with things, but now pay more for a better quality. I'm currently paying around £20 GBP per kg, but I can get hold of cheaper reels for £14 GBP per kg.

The straights and curves are about 4g each. The intersections are 5g to 6g each. The bridge weighs in at 54g, and the banked section (which has since been redesigned and not printed) is 33g.

For the layout design I posted, that would be a total weight of 306g, costing me £6.12 GBP in plastic, not much in electric bills, and countless hours of printing.

I would highly recommend you keep up the lobbying. Many people don't see the need for a 3D printer at home at the moment, but when you have one, you don't know what you'd do without it.