Minecraft Chess Set (magnetic)

Old News: There is now also a matching storage box to neatly store the board pieces and figures, securely and firmly fixed. Feel free to check it out

Also as a Christmas idea: I'm giving the chess set as a Christmas gift. In a suitable Minecraft Advent Calendar (which I just managed to design in time, as I'm still a CAD beginner), I will place one of the figures (or always 2 Slimes together) in each door to build up excitement and mystery about what it will be. If you also want to do this (and still find time to print), you are welcome to take a look at the model

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As a gift for a great boy and big Minecraft fan, I thought I'd quickly design a chess set. How hard can that be – they are all blocks, making them ideal for my beginner CAD and 3D printing skills. Well, I severely underestimated that. Since I wanted the pieces to be quite large, the required board was too big for my printer – so I decided to split it, and since I'm a fan of magnets, the 4 board pieces are also held together magnetically

Since I also planned magnetic support for the pieces (so they don't tip over easily – 3D printed parts are quite light), this also simplifies the insertion of the magnets (as only 16 pieces need to be inserted per part, making it easier to access the spots on the print bed). The magnetic hold of the pieces feels great to me – not too strong to cause problems when moving them, but strong enough to keep the pieces securely in place. Just be careful to insert all magnets in the same orientation, and accordingly into the piece bases! Caution is also advised when inserting the magnets for the board connection. When inserting, it's best to always double-check the required orientation using the already printed board pieces

I deliberately used 100% infill for the pieces. This gives them a nice weight and feel

The board has an inlet at the 4 corners for small decorations – I will also upload some simple ones here shortly (various ore blocks, Wither, and similar) – Feel invited to create more objects for this – the same applies to other pieces. As always, you can use my freely available OnShape Design as a starting point

Print information:

For the board, I have *Ironing* deactivated. If you want to improve the finishing, that's a good option. However, I've noticed that different filaments react differently well to the parameters used. Please perform a test beforehand with one of the Ironing test prints available on MakerWorld to find the best results for a smooth finish for your printer and filaments, and adjust the print profile accordingly. I have also included a small, flat test plate of the board as a profile, with which you can then test the parameters again for this board design before you print the board itself

For *inserting the magnets*, appropriate pauses are built in. For the board pieces, these are two consecutive pauses. In the first, please insert the square magnets at the edge (for the Board:Board connection) and only insert the field magnets during the second pause. Otherwise, I had the effect that the side magnets were pushed up by repulsion depending on the orientation (if this happens, you can also simply use temporary magnets outside the side wall to ensure the magnets stay down – but if you do it as described, there will be no problems)

Assembly information: Most parts can be easily pushed into each other with some force (sometimes a bit difficult, but it worked well for me *with caution and force*) and therefore require no glue. I only used a tiny drop of super glue for the chicken's head

In some variants, the Slime does not sit firmly in its base – a tiny drop of glue also helps here

Required magnets:

Board connection: 16 square pieces 8x8x4mm (https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DTHTC9JX?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1)

Board fields: 64 round pieces 8x2mm (https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CPSY5RCF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1)

Piece bases: 32 round pieces 5x2mm (https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CPT2S1XR?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1)

Improvement suggestions:

are welcome and will be implemented quickly if possible

Slicer magic:

A question for the pros among you – in this part of the board, 4x4 identical cylindrical cavities are designed for it. The slicer also nicely generates the "lids"/bridges for the 12 outer ones as specified by 45° lines. But for the 4 inner ones, it comes up with the idea of drawing circles in the air there. Since they start at the edge, this holds reasonably well, and in case it doesn't, I left some space above the magnets, as direct contact was really difficult to print... So it works now – but please still pay close attention during printing at this point and remove any non-adhering material if necessary. And if you have an idea how I can get the slicer to stop this behavior… I would be very grateful

Your Prints:

I am very excited to see your prints and how you like your set, and (if you give it as a gift) how it is received. Feel free to share your hopefully predominantly positive experiences here, and also if you encounter any problems and/or have tips – I will gladly collect them and add them to the description so that others can benefit from your experiences

NerdFact:

I was correctly pointed out that H1 must be a white square. Since we are working with different colors here and I do not necessarily see green = white as an assignment, I will keep the color scheme, but you are welcome to consider this in your color assignments

Used colors:

Here are the filaments I used. However, you can certainly replace some with your own similar-looking ones without problems. Especially for the two required shades of purple for the Enderman's eyes, you have to consider whether to buy 2kg of filament that you might not otherwise use. But the person I'm gifting it to is very detail-oriented and pays attention to such things :-)

Board:
Base: PLA Matte "Nardo Grey" (11104)
Text: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)
Green Fields: PLA Matte "Grass Green" (11500)
Brown Fields: PLA Basic "Cocoa Brown" (10802)

Piece Base:
Green: PLA Matte "Grass Green" (11500)
Brown: PLA Basic "Cocoa Brown" (10802)

Slime:
Body: PLA Matte "Grass Green" (11500)
Face: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)

Herobrine:
Beard/Hair: PLA Basic "Cocoa Brown" (10802)
Face: PLA Basic "Beige" (10201)
Eyes: PLA Matte "Ivory White" (11100)
Arms: PLA Basic "Beige" (10201)
Shirt: PLA Basic "Turquoise" (10605)
Pants: PLA Matte "Navy Blue" (11600)
Shoes: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)

Creeper:
Body/Head: PLA Basic "Bambu Green" (10501)
Face: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)

Enderman:
Body: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)
Eyes: PLA Matte "Lilac Violet" (11700)
Pupils: PLA Basic "Purple" (10700)

Skeleton:
Bones: PLA Matte "Ivory White" nice alternative Bone White (11103)
Face: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)

Chicken:
Body parts: PLA Matte "Ivory White" (11100)
Beak/Legs: PLA Matte Lemon Yellow (11400)
Wattle: PLA Basic Maroon Red (10205)
Eyes: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)

Zombie Rider:
Head/Arms: PLA Matte "Grass Green" (11500)
Eyes/Feet: PLA Matte "Coal Black" (11101)
Pants: PLA Matte "Navy Blue" (11600)
Shirt: PLA Matte Sky Blue (11603)