3D Printing Track

Hi, I'm looking to try 3D printing custom components and was wondering what the closest filament in terms of colour would be for both the older dark blue track and the newer light blue Takara/Plarail track. Any help would be greatly appreciated
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[Super]

I have put out a call to Member Nigels who has a lot of experience with the 3D printers in hopes that he can stop by and give his ideas.

cheers.

Hi Logstar,

I'm sorry to say there is no really easy answer to this problem.  For the most part there is no standard colour conventions in the world of filaments.  Each manufacturer make their own ranges, many of which change month by month.  So even if you find a particular colour that is what you want, you often find that it goes out of stock never to come back.  Or, although sold as the same colour, later batches are sometimes quite dramatically different.
 
Basically it's a minefield, unless you go to a bricks and mortars store you only have the online illustrations to go by and even those are often wildly inaccurate.
 
If you are only buying online all I would say is order a few that look likely, see what you get and if you find a good match go back and buy more while it is still in stock.  Also give some thought to the material you want to use.  PLA is good as its easy to work with and you have the widest range of colours.  However on the downside its not as flexible or robust as ABS, not that I would recommend ABS as unless you have a printer with a sealed enclosure and a full metal hot end you are likely to have issues using it successfully.

Anyway I will keep an eye out for you, I know there was one manufacturer that claimed to colour code their filaments by the pantone number. but I've never bought any of theirs for the simple reason that they are astronomically expensive in comparison to most of the other suppliers out there.  If I can find them again (I don't even remember the makers name as they were that expensive lol) I'll let you know!


Cheers, Nigel

Welcome to the forum btw

[Super]

Thanks for stopping by Nigels.

So if Amazon sells filament would it be a good idea to order from them and when the filament arrives check the color next to a Tomy Track and if doesn't match then just return it and buy the next color?

Well that's one way you could do it i suppose lol Although I'm not sure how Amazon would feel about it if you did it multiple times. Of course the easier way to do it would be to get a light grey and have an all grey layout I guess

[Super]

Amazon doesn't mind returns unless the buyer is a habitual abuser of returns which I think red flags to them in an algorithm.

Thanks for the help, gonna go look around and see what, if anything I can find. Additionally I have been looking for a light grey recently due to the tomica skyrail thing (idk what it's called), so hopefully I can find something decent

Grey is much easier to source and most manufacturers tend to make that constantly so once you find a shade that matches what you need then its easier to keep up a supply especially if you find one from a major brand such as Ziro etc...

One other thing to consider when printing track etc... is make sure you orientate it so that your layer lines are such that you get the highest mechanical strength. For example if you wanted to create a fairly long piece you might consider printing it upright or diagonal for example. But this would potentially lead to mechanical weakness as the layers would be on the thinner part of track if that makes sense which may result in it snapping if bent too far. If possible it is always best to print the track flat on the bed for strength

[Super]

Thank you Nigels 👷🏻