[Oscar36]

I just got my first 3d printer and it has been going non-stop for the last 3 weeks I've owned it. After printing a bunch of figurines for my wife I decided I wanted my own one of a kind custom chess set.

I love telling this story though my wife hates it. In high school I was a member of the chess club and we played in the Texas chess federation where we were state ranked. So as a kid I was ranked in Texas for chess. I was 999 out of 1000 (or whatever the real number was). So I was not the worst. lol

Now for today, I was thinking a super cool chess board table would be awesome to display the equally awesome plastic chess pieces I modeled. I was all excited and made some quick plans in blender and excitedly took them to my wife for approval.

Her first question was, "how big is it?"

I said, "about 3 feet by 3 feet."

Her second question was, "where is it going?"

I said, "I'll get rid of some of the kid's stuff."

And...back to the drawing board. I am making a chess board that can be put away after it is used.

This is what I was originally going to start with as the rough design.

I did order some limba white lumber for the light squares. The dark squares will be purple heart. The carcass will be mahogany though It will be a different design. I also ordered some gancolo alves lumber so I'll have to see what I find the most pleasing combination.

 

[DesertRatTom]

Nice table in the original design. I don't make furniture anymore because there's no room for it anywhere. I played chess as a kid too. Very bad at it. My brother, the retired rocket scientist, kept trouncing me.

 

[jw2170]

[I said, "I'll get rid of some of the kid's stuff."]

Hahahaha.....

 

[Oscar36]

That's my problem too. I've filled the house with furniture and have no more room. I keep giving stuff away to family but it just keeps getting filled...somehow. lol

 

[Oscar36]

The exotic hardwood lumber I ordered should be here this week so I am going to start designing my chess board. This is the custom chess set I am printing. Super stoked on making this project. A little under 400 hours to print the set with my entry level 3d printer. Don't know how long for the board.

Right now I am thinking the board will be purple heart and limba white or gancolo alves for the squares and mahogany for the carcass but I will see when the lumber arrives. I am thinking a variation of the table should be pretty cool. I purchased some wood filament for the printer so I will also be making some 3d printed overlays for the board.

 

[oldhudson49]

As a regular chess player (weekly at a coffee shop) my preferred boards are vinyl with weighted plastic pieces (I have 3 sets). The vinyl boards rolls up nicely and can be cleaned if coffee or beer gets on them. The plastic pieces can be super glued if something breaks and are easily washed. My opinion is that you need a pretty large house if you're going to set aside a large corner for a table and chairs, 2500 square ft. or no kids. However a custom set of pieces can be displayed, without a table/board, on a books shelf. A floating shelf with good lighting would be great.

 

[Oscar36]

I have a feeling this will end up a display piece. The board is going to be at least 30" x 30" x 6". It will be really pretty and heavy thanks to the lumber species I will be using. Originally I was going to have the bottom open as part of the table design but now that its going to be just a board I want a drawer in it to hold the pieces.

My kids are in their twenties and thirties so hopefully they can behave around the piece.

lol. This chess set will still be lighter than my current one that is made from stone and resin. No folding it up and taking it to a coffee shop for either one.

 

[DesertRatTom]

Playing chess at a coffee shop sounds incredibly civilized. I tried to write on my laptop at a local coffee shop and found it too distracting. But I liked the wingback chairs so much I bought it and had it reupholstered.

 

[Oscar36]

Really rough concept for my chess board. I am borrowing a lot of features from my initial draft. This is an artistic render. I will have to actually sit down and make a plan in the next few days.

Blender is not CAD so takes a little bit more effort to model accurately which at this point I haven't started to do so.

There is a new add-on that adds CAD-like features to blender (CAD Sketcher). It is still in development but free. I have not played with it yet but it is interesting.

I also want to play around with 3d printed overlays for this piece. I bought some wood filament. Wood dust mixed in with standard filament which when printed has some minor wood characteristics.