3D Printing For Chess

In an effort to reduce 3d printing thread forks on other CB&E topics, I'll start this thread for asking about 3d printers, printing help, and so on. No one wants Knights on Parade or Post Your Chess Sets to devolve into a discussion of flow rates and infill patterns. That said, if you're printing pieces, sets, boards, whatever, definitely do post the results on the apposite threads, but for the printers themselves, printing, filament issues, resin questions and so on, I figure here's a good place.

Standard disclaimer: 3D printing is nowhere near as easy as the marketing makes it sound. The situation is getting a lot better with brands like BambuLabs and Prusa really pushing hard toward ease of use and user-friendliness, but the entry level (Creality Ender 3) is still pretty challenging for novices. "Turn it on and go" is still a dream, like full self driving cars. We'll get there, and we're waaay further along than before COVID, but we still have a ways to go.

Notes about sharing models:

• If you print a publicly-available model, please note where you got the files (.stl, .3mf, whatever).
• If you purchased the model, please note the creator so we can all patronize them.
• If you share settings, please share what rig you're using. Most printers are different enough from one another, even within the same model line, that settings need to be made almost on a per-printer basis. Let's help each other get better.
• DO NOT SHARE COPYRIGHTED FILES. This should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: do not share models that are not share-alike. I'm gonna call out Conor O'Kane specifically as a designer who has put a TON of work into making not just beautiful sets but sets that can be more easily printed due to minor design changes. Artists deserve to get paid. Let's not get to a point where we have to report one another for posting files we shouldn't. 

Now I've gotta go round up all my printed pieces and take pics to give folks happier feelings about their first attempts, cuz srsly my first attempts were not satisfactory.

First, I'd like to thank @conor_okane at https://www.3dprintedchess.com/ for creating the STL files for this chess set. Included with the STL is a detailed guide on how to create the best print possible. I think he did an amazing job optimizing the design for 3D printing.

Lately I've been experimenting with vibrantly coloured boards and pieces. This is a flex pad board from Chess House (w/ 2.25" squares). Eventually I will scale the print for a board with 35 mm squares.

Something I'd really like to see discussed is how to best design chess pieces for 3D printing. For example, this STL uses creative angles to reduce/avoid overhangs that require supports.

Here's a useful Blender tutorial. It's more about creating 3D models and doesn't discuss how to optimize a design for printing.

A brief update...

I started to scale my 3D print for a smaller board (35 mm squares). This first print was just a bit too large. I'll be starting another print with the following base size:

• King: 28 mm
• Queen 28 mm
• Bishop: 24 mm
• Knight: 24 mm
• Rook: 26 mm
• Pawn: 22 mm

I'm planning to get an SLA printer some time next year, did somebody already experiment with printing pieces on one of those?

One of the designers being discussed above, @Conor_OKane, has models that appear to do very well in resin printers. It's lots of very fiddly stuff like reducing overhangs with fillets and bevels to make the models less reliant on support, and so on. I say "very fiddly" because he made some clear modifications, but has done it while keeping the respective styles of the pieces entirely recognizable, very much a meeting of art and craft. His designs are really nice, IMO.

Unfortunately, I'm an FDM guy, so my somewhat-biased knowledge of SLA is limited to "needs really good ventilation" and "messy and toxic." To the extent that one needs high resolution, SLA is a great option for very small pieces, but if you're printing at tournament scale in FDM, even a .4 nozzle can do quite well at layers under .16, and if you move to a .2 nozzle (and slow down) you can really make some magic.

I want to get a Bambu Lab A1 Mini. I'm happy with how chess pieces print. My issue has been finding quality designs that can scale. The Dubrovnik above is not very good if trying to print for a 35 mm board... the knight is too small and seems off.

Once I happened across this site with several Stls of historic designs. See if you like any of them better. I have no connection. https://www.printables.com/@JeffBurton/models

tl;dr A1Mini good; Printables good; BambuStudio pretty okay; Orca good.

I can heartily recommend the A1Mini. When the price hit the "well, why not?" point in my locality, I grabbed one for small, fast prints, and in about the first week it had almost entirely replaced my E3S1 (which may be donated this week). BambuStudio is really solid, but if you're coming from Cura there's a wee learning curve (easy).

Notes about the A1M:

• It really wants to print its own way. BambuLab has really good profiles, so most of the time they're spot on. As an older tinkerer, though, I find myself tweaking, constantly tweaking. The main thing is just slowing it down, adjusting walls, and so on.
• It really wants to go FAST. Be careful if you try the speedboat (printing a Benchy as fast as possible) that's included with the factory models; it can easily shake the printer off your bench. It's impressive, sure, but if you want a 7min Benchy, get a RatRig or a Voron. The thing is, taller models suffer at the upper layers just due to the physics of a bed-slinger, so one-piece bishops where the finial is not a separate part, or kings with fancy crosses/finials can get wobbly and your print quality will suffer in the most noticeable spot. BambuStudio's modifiers are still a little locked-down, so this would be a great case for moving to Orca.
• The Bambu community is a little scattered. Half of the community are curmudgeons like me, who grudgingly moved to the latest tech, were surprised by how happy we were, and are now trying to help the other half: newbies with no printing experience. The most frequent "what did I do wrong" answers are 1) dry your filament, 2) clean your buildplate, 3) slow down, and 4) set your expectations correctly. The subreddit (r/BambuLab) can get a little loud, but there's good info there if you're willing to be patient and dig.

Regarding where to find free models, Printables is my first stop (@mjeman, I actually follow Jeff Burton!), but I also hit up MakerWorld, Thangs, Thingiverse, and Cults3D, in that order. Also, be careful where you discuss Cults3D since it's a banned site on r/3Dprinting.

What is controversial about Cults3D that would cause it to be banned in some discussion groups?

https://www.reddit.com/r/cults3d/comments/16rnqmt/why_is_cults_banned_from_the_r3dprinting_reddit/

Plus, after Reddit's IPO and the resulting fallout, and protests, and mod turnover, and so on, there may be no original mods left at r/3Dprinting who know anything about the issue, and there's no incentive for them to revisit it. I'm fine with Cults3D. It's not the first place I look, but it's a good resource.

Gonna give these a try this morning since the models are pretty clean, and because Dubs are one of my favorite styles. I always start with a knight since it's typically the one to show defects most readily. This one prints in one piece (nice) and doesn't look like it needs much support (nice). I'm interested in the caps this designer has added specifically for weighting purposes. Gonna go fire up the Mini; will report back.

EDIT: Forgot to follow my own guidelines. I linked the maker above, but for clarity:

• Designer: ezee.one on MakerWorld
• Model: Dubrovnik 1960 Bobby Fischer Chess Set 
• Format: .3mf (free)

M'kay, so not a bad first try. @chesslover0003, I'm getting what you're saying about scaling the Dub knight in your set. If I want the piece to be as tall as my wood Dubs, I'm gonna have to fiddle a little to scale up the bust while keeping the base the same. Just z-stretching will mess up the proportions. But the bases are spot-on.

Notes on the designer's settings include:

• I really don't like concentric for top/bottom or for infill. Monotonic makes a way nicer first layer, and I don't want to have to put supports inside.

• The back of the bust may need support. I say "may" since part of the issue is the z-seam. I've cut Seam Gap down to 8% for my next try since the default (15%) is kinda messy. To be fair, BambuStudio doesn't do as good a job as Cura in terms of hiding it, at least with default settings and especially with cylinders, and I had to dig into developer settings to even find Seam Gap in BS. So we'll see.

This is printing at .16 layer height with a 0.4 nozzle.

I love these colors!
Might have to try these as well.
What filament was it? 
The board isn't printed I guess?

@roaringforchessclocks that your doing these prints. I thought any set should scale well... but this doesn't. One potential for 3d printed pieces is playing with different colours and/or smaller board sizes. Pieces for 35 mm squares is what I'm most interested in.

@jsonvr I'll see if I can find the brand of filament in my notes. The board is a flexipad from Chess House (you'll have to browse the colours).

Thanks, but was hoping to get the colors for the board as well.
I've designed my own chess sets that I sell online.
Although I'm playing with different board styles, I like to find new color combinations.
And I love the colors you are using.

I made this for you: https://grabcad.com/library/3d-print-chess-set-1

• Designed to be printed without supports, no face is less than 40deg from horizontal.
• Step files at 3 scales; 100%, 75%, and 60%.
• Native Fusion 360 file has a scale parameter that can be changed.
• The bottom of every part has a hole for an M6-1.0 x 10mm flat head bolt. Use this to add weight.
• Use non-stainless bolts to make the peices stick to a board with embedded magnets.

It is a Flex Pad board from chess house. The colour is called Peru. https://www.chesshouse.com/products/flex-pad-club-chess-board?_pos=1&_psq=flex&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=34089761345

3D printing excites me for the ability to play with colour combinations and different sizes (but I really want something optimized for a 35 mm square).

I'd love to see links of what you're doing.

The link isn't working. What square size is this set designed for? Or what scaling do you recommend for a 35 mm square?