Chess is a slow game of careful decision-making, looking several moves ahead of the current state of the board. So is machining, and combining the two is an excellent way to level up your machine shop chops. And so we have the current project from [John Creasey] who is machining a chess set out of stainless steel.
This isn’t that new-fangled computer numerical control at work, it’s the time-tested art of manual machining. Like chess, you need to plan several steps ahead to ensure you have a way to mount the part for each progressive machining process. In this first video of the series [John] is milling the knights — four of them, with two which will eventually get a black oxide treatment.
Milling the horse head is fun to watch, but you’ll be delighted when the work gets to the base. [John] is using a pipe fitting as a fixture to hold the already-milled horse-head-end while working the base on his lathe. The process begins by getting rid of the inner threads, then working the pipe fitting very carefully to the diameter of the chess piece for a perfect press fit. Neat!
At the end, [John] mentions it took “quite a few months of weekends to get to this point” of having four pieces made. They look great and we can’t wait to see the next piece in the set come to life. You’ll find the video embedded below, but if you can’t sink this kind of time into your own chess set, you may try three-dimensional laser cut acrylic pieces.
[via /r/metalworking]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu0EWKYzXpM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghF7njMgZgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcGHtI9Lql4&t=0m21s
We get it…
I took the point as, “see, this is CNC…”
@Internet
Yeah, you see, the key there is in the title of the videos you link to, namely the first word: CNC. I presume you didn’t bother reading all the way to the first word.
So anyway, this guy is machining pieces on conventional machines. Any plonker can shove a lump of metal on a 5 axes CNC machine and get it to machine some complex stuff. But on a conventional machine, it’s another story: skills are involved.
wohhh there, even on a CNC machine skills are required. The machine only does what you tell it to do, so you still need to program it correctly. Sure that only needs to be done once (if done correctly) and from then on every piece that comes out of it will be identical (that is if your machine is properly operated, cleaned, calibrated etc.) So please do not discard CNC related projects as simple or easy and that they don’t require any skill. They do, but on a totally different level. These machines sure made things much easier.
But don’t get me wrong, I do know what you mean and I really get the point, because what the man of this pages project is doing requires skills dedication patience or in short workmanship. For which I have the highest respect. And please do not forget that while he is doing this project it is also being filmed, so let’s not forget that difficulty factor or handicap. In other words, great project and thanks for the video, we’ll be watching the following episodes with joy.
I never said I wasn’t impressed with the work the original person did. I just have seen it ramped up to the extreme with CNC machines over the years and I thought that was relevant and neat to see how else this has been done as it felt on topic and interesting to see. It’s quite similar to mass production vs hand crafted. Both have their place though mass CNC production is likely to cost less per unit volume if you are able to amortize the costs. Hand crafted will tend to be ore innovative and custom. Both have their merits.
Meh Aluminium.
We did chess pieces in machine shop in high school. I wish I’d known then how popular CNC machining and the like would be now.
Only 31 more to go!
I have made the pawns, so actually only 12 pieces to go.
Here is the current state of the army. The Rooks are next.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jcreasey/31276471704/in/dateposted-public/
Really? milling the “horse head”.
Wait till he gets to the castle and the prawns.
He’s going to be making really big shrimp?
I laughed way harder at this than I should have. Thank you.
LOL! The fan tails are a real bitch on a Bridgeport…
I don’t get why he doesn’t work the base first, and then the horse… I must have been missing something.
I was wondering why the base was a separate piece of material that he pressed on at the end.
The separate base means that you can hollow out the pieces and use them to transport small things that you don’t want others to discover, like microfilm and .. substances.
Agreed, he held it in a collet to mill. Also why did he cut the one bottom portion off and press it on? Nice work none the less.
The original design didn’t have a base. Stuff went wrong when I cut the profile back curve so I needed to find another 10mm or so to make sure the knight was taller than the pawns. The base was my solution to that problem. I was originally going to push it on further so there was just a V groove but the wider gap looked nice so I kept it.
That explains it all. Nice job !
I would guess he believes it’s much easier to repeat 16 large bases at the same time.
Freaking awesome.
To do it on manual machines like this… Wow! What an impressive machinist. A chess set made with true craftsmanship & love for his Father #salute
Respect.
Fantastic work!
Google deResta + chess. Has been done by others before. Noless, this is awesome work. Would have loved to see an automated 5 axis machine spit out chess sets.
Not to be a dick but I did basically the same thing like a 2 years ago… https://m.imgur.com/ihrQ5lb
Interested project. Can I make it with normal metal lathe such as Grizzly G0602?