Interlocking Chess/Checker Board Puzzle

Hey everybody!

Do you like board games? How about wooden puzzles? Yeah? Then I have the perfect instructable for you!

This goal of this project was to design a chess board which is composed of several interlocking wooden pieces. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words, so please check out the pics to see exactly what I mean. Then we can get started!

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Step 1: Materials and Equipment

For this project, you will need:

Wood* - 16' of 1.5"x3/4" strips
                  6' of 2.5x3/4" strips

Tools - Miter saw (optional)
              Table saw (mandatory)
              1/8" kerf table saw blade with lots of teeth (better for making lots of fine cuts)
              3/4" dado blade for table saw (optional, but definitely recommended!)
              T-square or some type of ruler (digital calipers are nice to have, but optional)
              Power Drill/screwdriver

Other Materials:
             (2) Hinges
             (2) Latches
             (8) 2" screws
             Dark stain (I like MinWax's Gunstock, but it's up to you!)
             Varnish (I wouldn't recommend varnish, but it does make things shiny....)
             Chess pieces! Buy them online or make them with a scroll saw

*Note: Be careful about selecting wood that is straight. Warped wood will cause problems later on. It's also tempting to use exotic hardwoods for their contrasting colors, but I highly recommend trying this project with cheap pine first before you spend $$$ on nice wood.

Iamjpham2 says: Aug 9, 2012. 1:12 PM

This is fantastic, I've been wanting to make a chessboard ever since I saw the Shawshank Redemption and this just may be the way I'm going to do it. Quick question though, when you're playing with the board, d the hinges make it so it doesn't lay flush with the table?

LMO (author) in reply to Iamjpham2Aug 10, 2012. 6:55 AM

Yup. You can get better hinges that don't do that though.

fretted says: Aug 22, 2011. 9:34 PM

Absolutely Facsinating work you wouldn't by any chance have these prints in something like psp or adobe would you ? i would love to build one of these out of cedar and black walnut

Awsome work !

fretted in reply to frettedAug 22, 2011. 9:51 PM

Sorry i was so enammered with the project i forgot about the blueprints sections lol what a great "Ible" again great work !

LMO (author) in reply to frettedAug 23, 2011. 6:01 AM

I've got them all in sketchup/ppt if you need more detail. Thanks!

Frederiek says: Apr 12, 2011. 1:23 AM

Awesome!

bllwdcrvr says: Jan 6, 2011. 2:08 PM

really nice game board..

tmkiwipeel says: Nov 25, 2010. 12:31 AM

To connect the two board pieces without hinges, you could use a dovetail halfway up the two middle pieces. It would be alot of work to get a perfect fit but once you do I think it would be a really elegant solution.

Fred da Bunny says: Oct 27, 2010. 7:40 AM

bravo!

155

canida says: Oct 18, 2010. 5:37 PM

Wow, I missed this the first time around. It's pretty incredible!

Nice job.

LMO (author) in reply to canidaOct 19, 2010. 5:59 AM

Well, better late than never. Thanks!

EncasedDeath says: Oct 4, 2010. 2:09 PM

hey its tony's son, btw ur youtube video is taking up most of ur screen

LMO (author) in reply to EncasedDeathOct 5, 2010. 5:55 AM

tony's son? who?

EncasedDeath in reply to LMOOct 6, 2010. 5:09 PM

he said that he adventure races with u and chuck. he sent me this link and said u told him about it and he wanted me to vote for it

LMO (author) in reply to EncasedDeathOct 7, 2010. 6:29 AM

Ah! OK. Hey Tony Jr.! Thanks for the support!

EncasedDeath in reply to LMOOct 7, 2010. 12:51 PM

lol no problem

Wo0kiE says: Oct 6, 2010. 3:00 PM

I don't have words to describe how cool this is!

kelseymh says: Oct 2, 2010. 9:20 PM

Outstanding project, and beautifully presented! The dimensions have to be pretty precise for everything to interlock. I only saw a note about 1/16" tolerance; is that really true, or do you need better precision (or at least non-additive slop)?

I especially liked the long series of assembly pictures. You might consider wrapping those up into a slideshow and cross-linking it to this I'ble.

LMO (author) in reply to kelseymhOct 3, 2010. 6:09 AM

My saw has an error of about 1/16", so each time I make the board it typically fits right together. But there's typically a tight spot that I open up just a little bit. My advice would be to try to make each piece to spec and let the saw loosen it up for you. The best thing is to test fit as soon and as much as possible.

I've got a video of the assembly, but I'm having trouble uploading it right now....stay tuned!

kelseymh in reply to LMOOct 3, 2010. 1:29 PM

Oh, argh. You are going to have trouble uploading it :-( There's a bug in the recent versions of Firefox, such that the I'bles interface for the embed code doesn't seem to work right. Paid memberships get the added bonus of writing raw HTML (and thus can just put the embed code right into a post), which is the only current workaround.

LMO (author) in reply to kelseymhOct 3, 2010. 4:50 PM

Video posted! I think.... :-)

kelseymh in reply to LMOOct 3, 2010. 9:06 PM

Yes, and it worked, although you chose a size too large for I'bles fixed formatting. You may need to tweak the object dimensions in the XML code (if you still have access to it), or use the "handles" in the editor box to reduce the size of the frame.

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Kiteman in reply to kelseymhOct 3, 2010. 1:59 AM

Or made a video and embed it?

berky93 says: Oct 2, 2010. 9:57 PM

The closest I have ever come to building a chess board was modeling one for my first year animation class. This is fantastic. Really nice work. Combines the nerdiness of chess with the nerdiness of wooden puzzles and turns them into a nerdtastic masterpiece!

LMO (author) in reply to berky93Oct 3, 2010. 6:10 AM

I humbly accept your geekerly compliment!

berky93 in reply to LMOOct 3, 2010. 6:35 PM

*bows*