I’m reviewing over 70 GraviTrax add-ons from 7 Etsy shops. Each shop owner sent me
parts of THEIR choosing for these reviews. I evaluate each shop’s overall 3D print
quality, and then review each part individually. Parts gets scored in 4 key areas:
First, part quality. This evaluates the part’s fit, operation, build quality, and ease of
use.
Second, utility. How USEFUL is this part in a marble run? Does it add new capability to
GraviTrax that you didn’t have before?
Third, fun. This is the part’s coolness factor and is my opinion of how much fun the
part will add to your marble runs!
And lastly, uniqueness. This doesn’t measure how good the part is, but whether the part
is an original design that you can’t get anywhere else. A generic design that is sold
by several Etsy shops gets a lower uniqueness score.
Hi! I’m Chris from the Masked Marble! Join me on my quest to find the world’s best
3D-printed add-ons for GraviTrax marble runs!
In this video I review Etsy shop TracksCreations. What do these parts do? Which are best? In
the interest of full disclosure, please be aware that I received these parts for free
from shop owner Matt for the purposes of this review.
Today we’re going to examine 2 parts from the TracksCreations shop:
Zigzag Rail Support and Tunnel Set
You can buy these parts from Matt’s Etsy store at this link: Etsy.com/shop/TracksCreations
Let me start with a caveat: 3D printing is somewhat of an art. It’s not just the design
that counts, but how you print it. It can be difficult to dial in printer settings to
get a quality print. Many of these shop owners are improving their designs and print processes
over time, so the parts YOU receive may differ in design and quality from the parts reviewed
in this video. Be sure to talk to the shop owner if you have any questions. I’m simply
reviewing the parts I received at the time of this video.
First, let’s take a look at the overall quality of the 3D prints coming out of the
TracksCreations shop.
Overall the print quality is average. The parts are functional, but there is some stringing
and blobs. Some of the small details like the ends of rails and the clip surfaces of
tiles were malformed, but I think that is primarily the result of the chosen print orientation.
Rather than using supports, the base tiles were printed on their side, which in my mind
is challenging. There are lines in some of the printed layers. There is almost no ghosting,
and it seems a very high quality filament is used. Overhangs have some drooping, but
not enough to affect part operation. There is some slight elephant's foot. The print
bed surfaces are often nice and smooth - in fact, they are the best I've seen. Top surfaces
may have gooping and some very slight gaps. I’m giving TracksCreations 3 stars for overall
print quality.
Now let’s dive in for a look at the parts!
The first part I’m reviewing from the TracksCreations shop is the ZIGZAG RAIL. There are several
such rails available from Etsy shops. Let’s see how this one performs.
The zigzag rail I received bridges 2 spaces, and was missing its retention posts on one
end of the rail. For some reason this caused marbles to stop if I made this end the exit
at the bottom. I found that turning the rail around so that this end was on top corrected
the issue.
The marble action on the rail is fun, but it will stall if the angle of the rail is
only at ½ height tile difference. Raising this to a 1 height tile difference gave reliable
operation. Greater heights caused the marble to go faster, and I was able to get a maximum
of 3 ½ height tiles difference. But I’m not sure if I could have gotten this height
difference if the other 2 end rail posts had printed correctly.
The rail wobbles a bit at higher speeds, but works just fine. The wobbling of the rail
is expected due to the back and forth motion of the marble.
Here’s my score card rating for the ZIGZAG RAIL:
For quality I give it 4 stars. Overall it works fine within its parameters, and is easy
to insert into GraviTrax tiles. The only issue was the missing posts on one end.
For utility I give it 5 stars. This part gives you a new capability to experience zigzag
marble action that standard GraviTrax parts don’t give.
For fun I give it 5 stars. I really like the operation, and how you can control the speed
by adjusting the angle. For uniqueness I give it 2 stars. There are
several Etsy shops that sell zig-zag rails for GraviTrax, so it is not unique.
The second part I’m reviewing from the TracksCreations shop is the SUPPORT AND TUNNEL SET. This is
a set of thin base tile supports with tunnel inserts through which marbles can travel.
The set includes 5 supports, and 5 different tunnel inserts.
First let’s look at the base tile supports. They are very thin, and just high enough to
connect to GraviTrax rails. They mesh with GraviTrax baseplates and height tiles. As
previously discussed, they seem to have some printing issues since they are printed on
their sides. They stick fairly well to GraviTrax height tiles. They have small hexagonal holes
in the corners, perhaps for adding height pillars. I’m not exactly sure what those
are for.
The system has 5 different tunnel inserts that fit within the base tiles. Marbles travel
through the tunnels according to the pattern shown on top. For example, this tunnel insert
has three 120 degree turns. Marbles seem to travel easily through the tunnels. The tunnel
inserts have a groove all around the top that allows other GraviTrax pieces to be stacked
on top. This also allows stacking of the support and tunnel pieces onto each other.
For example, you could place a trampoline on top, and still see the pattern on top of
the tunnel insert.
The tunnel inserts are the same size as regular GraviTrax base tile inserts, so you could
actually use the tunnel inserts with GraviTrax base tiles if the inlet and outlet patterns
matched. But they don’t actually match, so that’s a no-go.
So let’s look at the other 4 tunnel patterns. First, you have a tunnel insert pattern that
matches the GraviTrax T tile pattern from the 2021 Advent Calendar Set. It allows a
marble to go straight through one way, and through a 60 degree curve the other way. The
next pattern matches the GraviTrax star tile pattern, also from the 2021 Advent Calendar
Set. It allows the marble to go through straight in any direction. The next pattern is a 3-way
merge, and the final pattern is like the I tile from the 2021 Advent Calendar Set, with
a straight through in the middle, flanked by two 120 degree curves on the sides.
Quickly testing the tiles, I found out that marbles had no problems going through. There
was one tunnel that had some filament that hadn’t stayed in place, but I was able to
push that out and then the marble ran through just fine.
So what is cool about these tunnel pieces is that you can set up a track and then by
swapping pieces get a completely different marble path.
The system takes up the equivalent of 2 height tiles, and that includes both the base support,
and the tunnel insert. So they don’t take up too much room.
You can have fun with the set by stacking them on top of one another. You can use them
with a vertical u turn or a flextube by adding 1 ½ height tiles between them. Because the
base supports are so thin, the u-turn I was using was left a bit loose on the bottom,
but it still worked ok. Adding u turns and flextubes, I can imagine a pretty good tower
could be obtained.
During testing of individual pieces, they all worked fine except for the 3-way merge.
I found that the marbles coming in the side of the 3-way merge tunnel insert would lose
its momentum. I let the shop owner Matt know, and he says he is modifying the design to
improve the 3-way merge’s marble action.
Obviously the strong point of these tunnel pieces is that they allow you to build on
top of them, which is something you can’t do with regular GraviTrax tiles, unless you
use a clear platform above.
Here’s my score card rating for the SUPPORT AND TUNNEL SET:
For quality I give it 4 stars. The set works fairly well. Marbles travel through without
trouble. I just wish the supports were a tad thicker to give a bit more support for the
rail ends, especially when using vertical u turns and flextubes.
For utility I give it 5 stars. If you want to build on top of another tile, these tunnel
inserts are a quick way to go, and prevent you from having to set up an entire clear
platform just to build upwards. For fun I give it 5 stars. It kind of adds
an element of surprise to a track, as the viewer tries to figure out which hole the
marble is coming out. For uniqueness I give it 2 stars. There are
other tunnel and stackable tower elements available from other Etsy shop owners, so
even though the particular design of these elements are unique, you can accomplish the
same thing with other designs from other Etsy shops.
That wraps up my review of GraviTrax add-ons from Etsy shop TracksCreations. Tell me in
the comments which add-on is your favorite!
To see all the Etsy shops I’ve reviewed so far, click this playlist! Subscribe and
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GraviTrax add-ons.