Laird's SCAD Chess Set (updated)
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Published on December 29, 2010
This thing was Featured on December 30, 2010
Description
I have been wanting to make this chess set for years. Now that 3D printing is becoming affordable, perhaps I can actually make a physical set. Until then, I am uploading it for others to enjoy.
The set is designed to be artistically interesting, but also to illustrate the moves of each piece, with the names labeled, to make Chess approachable for kids.
The king has the tallest 'body' and has its name printed in large type to indicate its importance. The circle represents the king's ability to move one space in any direction.
The queen is about as tall as the king, with the 'head' indicating that the Queen can move any distance in the eight directions.
The knight is shorter, with cubes arranged around a central diamond indicating the eight squares that the knight can jump to. The arrangement of the cubes on the top and the back, and the angle of the supporting head, are intended to evoke a horse's head.
The bishop and rook are the same height, with 'heads' indicating their ability to move any distance in either the diagonals or horizontal and vertical.
Finally the pawns are the shortest. The 'head' indicates the ability to move forward one square, or capture diagonally. I couldn't think of a way to indicate moving forward two spaces, or capturing en-passent.
This is a complete rebuild of thingiverse.com/thing:1523 using OpenSCAD. I am now an OpenSCAD convert - it allowed me to express precisely what I wanted, rather than trying to approximate in a GUI.
Updated:
Ordered a Thing-o-matic, so refreshing this in preparation for printing it. Generated individual STL files for each piece, as the whole set won't fit into a TOM print area.
The set is designed to be artistically interesting, but also to illustrate the moves of each piece, with the names labeled, to make Chess approachable for kids.
The king has the tallest 'body' and has its name printed in large type to indicate its importance. The circle represents the king's ability to move one space in any direction.
The queen is about as tall as the king, with the 'head' indicating that the Queen can move any distance in the eight directions.
The knight is shorter, with cubes arranged around a central diamond indicating the eight squares that the knight can jump to. The arrangement of the cubes on the top and the back, and the angle of the supporting head, are intended to evoke a horse's head.
The bishop and rook are the same height, with 'heads' indicating their ability to move any distance in either the diagonals or horizontal and vertical.
Finally the pawns are the shortest. The 'head' indicates the ability to move forward one square, or capture diagonally. I couldn't think of a way to indicate moving forward two spaces, or capturing en-passent.
This is a complete rebuild of thingiverse.com/thing:1523 using OpenSCAD. I am now an OpenSCAD convert - it allowed me to express precisely what I wanted, rather than trying to approximate in a GUI.
Updated:
Ordered a Thing-o-matic, so refreshing this in preparation for printing it. Generated individual STL files for each piece, as the whole set won't fit into a TOM print area.
Instructions
Print two copies, in two different colors/materials, so that you can tell the two sides apart.
I have uploaded an OpenSCAD file, and also an exported STL file of the whole set, and as individual STL files for each piece. I don't have a 3D printer yet, so I cannot verify that this is printable, but if anyone could print me a set, I'd be happy to pay for it.
The OpenSCAD code is pretty obvious (at least to me).
The units are inches. That is, each piece is 1 (inch) wide, and the tallest piece is 4 (inches) tall. Setting the 'size' and 'offset' variables in the SCAD file will scale the pieces and the spacing of the pieces as desired (if you want to generate and print the whole set in one print, if your printer is big enough). To generate individual pieces from the OpenSCAD file, comment out all but one at the bottom of the SCAD file.
There is some overhang on the knight, but only a quarter inch, which I hope will be printable using an extrusion 3D printer.
I have uploaded an OpenSCAD file, and also an exported STL file of the whole set, and as individual STL files for each piece. I don't have a 3D printer yet, so I cannot verify that this is printable, but if anyone could print me a set, I'd be happy to pay for it.
The OpenSCAD code is pretty obvious (at least to me).
The units are inches. That is, each piece is 1 (inch) wide, and the tallest piece is 4 (inches) tall. Setting the 'size' and 'offset' variables in the SCAD file will scale the pieces and the spacing of the pieces as desired (if you want to generate and print the whole set in one print, if your printer is big enough). To generate individual pieces from the OpenSCAD file, comment out all but one at the bottom of the SCAD file.
There is some overhang on the knight, but only a quarter inch, which I hope will be printable using an extrusion 3D printer.
License
Laird's SCAD Chess Set (updated) by laird is licensed under the Attribution - Non-Commercial - Share Alike license.
When I get my Makerbot in a few months, I would love to print these chess pieces out and play with them.