3D Printed Chess Piece Models

One of the perks of working for Autodesk is occasionally getting to try out fancy-shmancy new software before the public. I recently got the opportunity to play with such a piece of design software, and used it to make this chess set.

Why 3D print a chess set? Can't you just buy a chess set?

Well, this solved a few problems for me. For starters, I have been running an event every week called 3D Printing Thursdays and wanted to print out something that demonstrated some of the basic capabilities of the 3D printers we use. I also wanted to print out something that gave the people at the workshop something to do while they waited an hour or two for a print to complete. And, of course, demonstrating the design capabilities of Autodesk software is always encouraged of me.

This project took about a day to get from design to physical object. With the attached files, you should be able to get to physical object in or around the same time-frame; assuming you have an ABS extruder at your disposal.

These pieces were printed on an Objet Connex 500 model, which allowed me to print each set in a different material. I printed one in gray plastic, another in black rubber, and the third set with a frosted clear resin.

Once I had the pieces, I needed a chess board. I considered 3D printing a chess board, but that seemed slightly excessive. Instead I decided to etch the chess board with a laser cutter (which somehow seemed less excessive). I basically etched the protective coating off of a clear piece of acrylic, painted the etched part black, and then peeled the remainder of the coating.