3-D Printed Chess Pieces

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3-D Printed Chess Pieces

April 2nd, 2024


Idea Exploration/Sketches:

I originally had a completely different idea, but when I started modelling the bases of the chess pieces I thought "huh, that kind of looks like a lava lamp", so I just sort of took that and ran with it. The pieces aren't the structure of the lava lamp, but rather the look of the bubbles inside as they float all around. I wanted to make sure every piece was different, not just in height but in structure as well, because you're never going to see a lava lamp produce the same results twice.


Modelling:

I didn't really stick to exactly what was planned in my sketches. I sort of just played around with it to see what looked good. For most of the pieces I constructed them in top view and revolved most of the elements, then went in and added a bunch of little spheres and bubbles to the outside of the pieces to give them a more "lava lamp" type look.

<< king

<< queen

<< bishop

<< knight

<< rook

<< pawn





Printing Process:


I ran into some problems during the printing process. First, I printed just the first three pieces but they. ended up being way too small to the point where I couldn't even peel off the support material without fracturing the pieces. 




The second print I did, I sized up the pieces and printed them all at once. I also removed the support material because it wasn't actually necessary for most of the pieces. Everything seemed to be going well and I left for a few minutes and when I returned this had happened:

Luckily, every other piece was intact, I just had to cut off some extra filament attached to the side, the added some support material to the affected piece and reprinted it with no issues. 


This was my first time using the 3-D printers and a definitely learned a lot! It's also super fascinating to watch. And now with the experience I have with the 3-D printers, I know what I would change and where supports would be needed to have avoided how my second print went. 



Final Prints: 

I couldn't find a perfectly neutral background in the Thing Tank so I just used the wood table. I'm happy with how these turned out!






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