DIY Chessboard made with CNC

cults3d

Here is a Home Made Chessboard with CNC Craftsmanship. This project was sparked by my curiosity to design a chessboard using Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology, thanks to Estlcam (http://www.estlcam.com/). The paths were generated with this powerful software. I drew inspiration from a beautifully crafted chessboard on Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chess-board-with-letters_nevit_111.svg. I wanted to pay tribute to Nevit Dilmen for sharing his design, which motivated me to take on this fun project. The base of my chessboard was made from an old oak countertop that I had lying around the house. The white parts were crafted from pinewood. First, I leveled the oak plate on both top and bottom surfaces. Then, I measured its height to program the milling process accurately. Next, I carved all the numbers and chamfered the edges. I milled out the holes for the white parts and then cut them out using a CNC machine. I chose to mill down 12mm for the white parts. To create the white pieces, I first leveled the pinewood to 12.2 mm and then cut them out. After that, I used wood glue to secure the white pieces into place. A lot of sanding was required to achieve a smooth finish! Since the oak plate had been exposed to moisture for a long time, it began to bend slightly when I cut it out. As a result, some of the holes for the white parts were slightly off-center. To correct this issue, I mixed some wood filler from the sanded material and filled in all minor gaps, including the numbers and letters. After another round of sanding, I applied oil to the chessboard, and it was finally complete!