Abstract Nestable Chess Pieces

prusaprinters

Have you been looking for a Chess Set that's not only unique, but also gimmicky? Well, we've got you covered!This set was based on two primary design goals: first, to create a chess set where the pieces could be combined into a single unit; and secondly, the aesthetic would be polygonal/geometric. These goals are both open to creative interpretation and could spawn a number of different configurations and styles, and this is one of them.Approx. Cost- full set, both colors: ~$1.60Approx. Print Time - Full set, both colors, printed individually: ~20h 16m InterconnectionA full set of pieces can be snapped/nested together into a single, rectangular unit as follows:The Knights are snuggly nested opposite of (reverse-orientation to) the Rooks.The King is nested opposite the King's Bishop.The Queen is nested opposite the Queen's Bishop.These four pieces are then combined in a 2x2 formation, using the Pawns to connect the bases at 90 degrees to each other.The outer pieces (Rooks/Bishops) are designed to flex at the top to allow the head of the nested pieces to enter them; this helps prevent the nested pieces from sliding out. AestheticThe Major Pieces are built around inner and exterior triangles along the horizontal plane. Vertically, the pieces feature a sweeping profile reminiscent of typical piece design. The Pawns, in stark contrast, are rounded and stand straight in order to accent the sharpness and dynamics of the Major Piece design.Unlike a normal chess set, the King is not noticeably taller (only by about 2mm) and the Knight is the same size as the other pieces. This aesthetic change is due to the nesting feature of the set: having all pieces as close to the same size as possible makes the final combination symmetrical and therefore more presentable. If the King and Knights were different sizes from the rest of the Major Pieces, this would be detrimental to the looks of the combined unit.The specific stylistic design of each piece- including the Pawn- is an abstraction of the piece’s movement. As an example, we’ll look at the Knight which possesses the most irregular and unique movement pattern:The two most common ways of describing the Knight’s movement are: as an “L” shape; or alternatively, one step in a cardinal direction and one step “forward” diagonally. For the latter, the reverse order happens to also be accurate- moving diagonally, followed by a “forward” cardinal move produces the same pattern. I opted for reflect this order as it is more visually interesting and uses the space available more effectively.I have included diagrams like this for all the pieces in the image upload sectionPrintingRecommended Print SettingsLayer Height: .15mmSupports: 🗵Brims/Rafts: 🗹 (Major Pieces)Material: PETG (or other non-brittle filament)I wouldn’t recommend going coarser than .2mm for the layer height for both aesthetic and mechanical reasons. The test pieces I printed were .2mm and they were fine; the final, display pieces I printed using the .15 (Quality) setting and it did make a difference. No supports are required; the overhangs are not wide enough to cause serious problems on most printers. While I do my best not to use Brims, the features on the Major Pieces' bases when printed at the default (100%) scale are too fine to print without them reliably. For this reason, I also highly recommend making sure your bed and nozzle are clean to give yourself the best shot at getting the first couple of layers down. Pawns do not require brims as they have a simple, flat base.Because the clips on the base and the tops of the Rooks and Bishops need to flex, I recommend printing in PETG. Any other filament that can reliably recover from deformations would also be viable.ScalingThese pieces are designed for a board with 1-inch squares. I based these proportions on information found on the internet and compared it against 3 different chess sets I own. Based on what I've seen, scaling all 3 dimensions linearly should be pretty close to accurate: the piece height (z-scale) may be slightly off, but I have seen variations across sets anyway, so feel free to adjust that separately from x-and-y if want. Note that you should isolate the base from the body of the piece if you are going to change the Z-scale separately, as otherwise you'll be modifying the clip size on the base as well.Note- I assume there is a scale at which it is no longer necessary to print with Brims; I have not, however, done any experimentation to confirm this.Post ProcessingDue to their geometry, stringing is highly likely to occur on the Rooks and Bishops. You are also likely to see stringing between pieces if printing multiple pieces in parallel. Brim material is expected to be removed. If you don't want to spend time removing it, however, there are still two areas that are highly recommended to have clean. First, brim material should be removed from the clips on the base so that it does not interfere with Pawns. Secondly, you should clean the edges that mate with other bases to ensure clean alignment of the pieces. Tips for NestingWhile not strictly necessary, the easiest way to orient the nested pieces is to keep pairs oriented in the same direction. The bases have a flat side that can be used as a reference. So long as the top and bottom piece are aligned the same, it is trivial to orient the pairs perpendicular to each other.For the king and queen, make sure the corner points are all seated before you start pushing; misaligning one of the corners is the single most likely way to break a bishop.The Rook is a little bit fiddly to get around the Knight because the third and fourth posts generally need to be pulled two directions because they cannot slide into place. Just be patient because once they get into place it is the easiest pair to actually slide together and apart.