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Although many people have made chess sets out of hardware pieces, none of them lived up to the vision I had for a hardware chess set. So, one sunny summer Saturday, I decided I was going to create the most awesome hardware chess set, which overcame all the problems I had with other ones I had seen online and blended masculine steel and Lego(TM)-like modularity.
Most of the hardware sets I have seen either used glue or locktight, painted one army, or had modified hardware or car parts to make the pieces more artistic. Almost all of these were interesting, but my vision was to make a chess set out of entirely unmodified hardware pieces available at Ace hardware or Lowes. I didn't want to paint, glue or embellish the raw hardware, but to merely artistically use what was available as stock hardware.
In order to satisfy my no-paint rule, I needed to still be able to tell the sides apart. The most common way of doing that is by color (black and white) and the less common way is by style. Originally, I thought I would be forced to use style differences, but after starting to look for parts, I realized I could utilize the yellow-zinc plate as a different color than the clear or white zinc plate. As an added advantage, using the gold/silver color scheme meant that I could substitute brass when necessary.
To actually make this set took several hours in several stores, standing around and picking pieces up, looking for different shapes and envisioning the final chess pieces in my head. If you want to make a set just like mine, you aren't going to have to do this. However, I would highly reccomend the experience, and if you decide that my set just doesn't quite tickle YOUR fancy, well you're going to have to do that same process yourself. To be honest, that time spent thinking and envisioning the parts in the bins transformed into something new was probably the most fun for me.
Most of the hardware sets I have seen either used glue or locktight, painted one army, or had modified hardware or car parts to make the pieces more artistic. Almost all of these were interesting, but my vision was to make a chess set out of entirely unmodified hardware pieces available at Ace hardware or Lowes. I didn't want to paint, glue or embellish the raw hardware, but to merely artistically use what was available as stock hardware.
In order to satisfy my no-paint rule, I needed to still be able to tell the sides apart. The most common way of doing that is by color (black and white) and the less common way is by style. Originally, I thought I would be forced to use style differences, but after starting to look for parts, I realized I could utilize the yellow-zinc plate as a different color than the clear or white zinc plate. As an added advantage, using the gold/silver color scheme meant that I could substitute brass when necessary.
To actually make this set took several hours in several stores, standing around and picking pieces up, looking for different shapes and envisioning the final chess pieces in my head. If you want to make a set just like mine, you aren't going to have to do this. However, I would highly reccomend the experience, and if you decide that my set just doesn't quite tickle YOUR fancy, well you're going to have to do that same process yourself. To be honest, that time spent thinking and envisioning the parts in the bins transformed into something new was probably the most fun for me.
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Signing UpStep 1Getting materials
Like I said in the introduction, when I designed this, I spent several hours in several different hardware stores browsing and picking pieces up and turning them around etc. If you want to, you can just take the list that I've got and get the same pieces. It's likely you'll need to go to more than one place to get all the parts. Some of them are very obscure. In the attached spreadsheet (also here online), I indicate part numbers from fastenal for all the pieces I could find on Fastenal's website, and McMaster part numbers for the other pieces.
The part numbers listed are really just to give you another reference for what each piece is. I would recommend going to your Lowes/Ace/Local/whatever hardware and just spend some time walking around with an open mind about what you could create from re-imagined stuff. Seeing, touching, holding, etc are all very valuable for sparking ideas, in a way that a web store with all its convenience just can't do. (Just like hugs are better than skype!)
Also, you might need to buy more of most things than you're going to use.
You'll also need a hacksaw or metal-cutting bandsaw to cut the all-thread rod to the appropriate lengths.
Used for: description: QTY
bases of all silver pieces: zinc coated flange nut 1/4-20 : 16
bases of all "gold" pieces: yellow zinc coated flange nut 1/4-20: 16
silver pawns: hex head bolt zinc coated 1/4-20 x 1/2: 8
gold pawns : hex head bolt yellow zinc coated 1/4-20 x 1/2: 8
rooks, knights, bishops: zinc coated hex nut 1/4-20 : 8
rooks, knights, bishops: yellow zinc coated hex nut 1/4-20 : 8
rooks : castellated hex nut : 4
knights: 1/4-20 wing nuts : 2
knights: brass 1/4-20 wing nuts : 2
knights: 1/4-20 pound-in wood inserts : 4
bishops: zinc(or nickel) coated finish washers: 8
bishops: brass coated finish washers: 8
bishops: nickel coated acorn nuts: 2
bishops: brass coated acorn nuts: 2
king: 1/4-20 x 1 1/2 oval head machine screw: 1
queens: 1/4-20 x 5/16 T nut: 2
queens: keps lock nut: 2
queens: twistin wood insert: 2
gold queen, gold rooks: brass washer: 3
gold king: 1/4-20 x 1 1/2 brass oval head phillips machine screw: 1
kings: 1/4-20 x 7/8 coupler nut: 2
1.5 ft 1/4-20 all-thread rod
The part numbers listed are really just to give you another reference for what each piece is. I would recommend going to your Lowes/Ace/Local/whatever hardware and just spend some time walking around with an open mind about what you could create from re-imagined stuff. Seeing, touching, holding, etc are all very valuable for sparking ideas, in a way that a web store with all its convenience just can't do. (Just like hugs are better than skype!)
Also, you might need to buy more of most things than you're going to use.
You'll also need a hacksaw or metal-cutting bandsaw to cut the all-thread rod to the appropriate lengths.
Used for: description: QTY
bases of all silver pieces: zinc coated flange nut 1/4-20 : 16
bases of all "gold" pieces: yellow zinc coated flange nut 1/4-20: 16
silver pawns: hex head bolt zinc coated 1/4-20 x 1/2: 8
gold pawns : hex head bolt yellow zinc coated 1/4-20 x 1/2: 8
rooks, knights, bishops: zinc coated hex nut 1/4-20 : 8
rooks, knights, bishops: yellow zinc coated hex nut 1/4-20 : 8
rooks : castellated hex nut : 4
knights: 1/4-20 wing nuts : 2
knights: brass 1/4-20 wing nuts : 2
knights: 1/4-20 pound-in wood inserts : 4
bishops: zinc(or nickel) coated finish washers: 8
bishops: brass coated finish washers: 8
bishops: nickel coated acorn nuts: 2
bishops: brass coated acorn nuts: 2
king: 1/4-20 x 1 1/2 oval head machine screw: 1
queens: 1/4-20 x 5/16 T nut: 2
queens: keps lock nut: 2
queens: twistin wood insert: 2
gold queen, gold rooks: brass washer: 3
gold king: 1/4-20 x 1 1/2 brass oval head phillips machine screw: 1
kings: 1/4-20 x 7/8 coupler nut: 2
1.5 ft 1/4-20 all-thread rod
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The board I used was just one I had around, and I think the squares were about 1.5 inches on each side. however, I think 1 inch sides would work well for these pieces; the board I had was a little big I think.
The biggest problems for the hinges would be:
1) how are you attaching them to the sheet metal?
2) how will you keep the board flat when it is open, instead of having a "peak" in the middle due to the hinge attachment pieces?
In general, the hinge itself in the middle of the board shouldn't be a problem, there are tons of folding chess board/boxes that all have hinges that are visible on the board.
Awesome that you include some of the history of chess and what makes an excellent chess set. I applaud the fact that you stuck with the no-glue, no-paint.
Um, and did you for real lose your glasses going over a waterfall?
would a small hook look better for the knight?
thanks for teaching me the names of a few hardware pieces