A Gift for my Office

My workplace plays a lot chess. At lunch time they fit in around 3-4 games every day. Currently they have two sets, a characterful handmade timber board that someone's Dad made with the most pathetic cheap plastic pieces on it that are way too small and cheap glass set that although weighty, is grating to the ears and it is hard to distinguish the black and white pieces from each other.

So when my friend Ibby offered a beautiful claimed marble board from their work (a board game shop) I knew what I had to do.

Some of the tiles are apparently misaligned (but I can barely tell which)

I briefly considered simply purchasing pieces to suit this set however I struggled to find any that suited for my budget. Remembering the power of my 3D printer gave me an idea…

After some research of a lot of chess piece designed I decided I like the traditional Staunton style pieces. Yet again Thangs.com came in clutch and I found this set that was designed for easy printability, had space for adding weights to the base and was exceptionally pretty.

Don't talk to me or my Son ever again

I had a play with scale for this set. The pieces I used were scaled for 2” (~50mm) squares but this board had only 30mm squares. So I scaled it down by 75%, the final king I used sits exactly to the boundary of the square but I don’t think the board has ended up too cramped. I think the Staunton style pawns would simply be comically small if scaled any further down on this board.

When searching for best ways to attach the felt I found this brilliant video which has outstanding guidance for getting 3D printed pieces finished.

Set all printed! (pre paint)

Had to use the Dremel to get a little bit more room to secure nuts in the base for weight. Took a hot minute for all 36 pieces.

Used gap filler to secure the bolts in. It added a good amount of weight that made them feel much more 'premium'

Coats of paint started

These are test pieces that I used to test different techniques including the colour of the felt

After drying these were ready for a trim

Much consultation was required to decide on the red felt over the green and I think red was absolutely the right call. Most of this process was made easy by simply following the video and everything came out swimmingly.

And here it is all done!

Honestly, this project has come out better than I could have hoped for. The pieces feel lovely to the touch, are weighty and good to move, the felt makes them slide well and hit the board with satisfaction. The strong white and black suit the marble board brilliantly and the red felt only adds more charm.

But I didn't make this set for myself...

Yes, that is Mario Kart in the background, its a really lovely office, okay?

Matt and Mark really enjoyed playing on the set! It is really special to produce something that will get as much use and love poured into it. Making nice objects is made all the sweeter knowing they will get used.

This was a really fun project and I'm proud of the result. It was a lot of tedious work but I really enjoyed pushing myself through the process to get the job done.