Question 1

What size are the swatches?

Accepted Answer

Two sizes. Standard is 79.5 × 30 × 2 mm, which is the size the common swatch boxes, dry-box holders, pegboard mounts and dividers on Printables and MakerWorld are cut for, so it slots into storage you may already have printed. Large is 76 × 37 × 3 mm, with more room for long filament names, and suits a binder ring or a wall of its own.

Question 2

Raised, engraved, or flush — which should I pick?

Accepted Answer

Raised text prints fastest and reads well in one color. Engraved cuts the letters into the surface, which looks sharp under a light coat of paint or with a contrasting first layer. Flush keeps the top face level and fills the letters with a second material, so it only shows if you print the 3MF with two filaments.

Question 3

How do I print the text so it's crisp?

Accepted Answer

Print at 0.2 mm layer height with a 0.4 mm nozzle. If small text looks thin after slicing, set the external perimeter extrusion width to about 0.25 mm. The text is sized to stay above minimum printable width.

Question 4

What's the difference between the STL and 3MF downloads?

Accepted Answer

The STL is one solid for single-color printing. The 3MF splits the text into a second object with its own material, so slicers like Bambu Studio can assign it to a second AMS filament.

Question 5

Is my photo uploaded when I sample a color?

Accepted Answer

No. The camera frame or photo is read entirely inside your browser to pick the color, then discarded. Nothing is uploaded, saved, or sent anywhere.

Question 6

Can I generate swatches for all my spools at once?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Save each spool to the rack, or paste a list in Batch mode, one spool per line, then use Export All to download a ZIP with one STL per spool.

Question 7

Why does it open on a different filament every time?

Accepted Answer

Each load rolls a real Polymaker filament from their published color table, so you land on something concrete instead of a blank card. Every hex comes from Polymaker's own HEX and Transmission Distance list, and the translucency of the Clear finish is driven by that published TD value, which is the depth in millimetres that light penetrates before deeper layers stop contributing color. Type over any of it, or pick your own color. Reload for a different one.

Question 8

Where are my saved swatches stored?

Accepted Answer

In your browser's local storage on this device only. There are no accounts and no server, so clearing site data removes the rack.

Question 9

What are the stepped windows for?

Accepted Answer

They print at four increasing thicknesses so you can see the filament's translucency and color depth at different layer counts, the standard way swatches reveal how a filament really looks.

Question 10

Is this a free alternative to the OpenSCAD swatch customizer?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The popular customizable swatches need OpenSCAD or a desktop CAD app to change the text. This runs entirely in the browser: type your spool details, watch it update live, download the file.

Filament Swatch: custom 3D printable filament swatch cards with your text

The Rack