Chess

Advanced CAD/CAM Course Project – University of Pennsylvania (2010)

Objective:

The motivation behind the project was to gain hands-on experience with the UPenn machine shop’s new Haas TL-1 CNC lathe by designing and fabricating a custom chess set.

Project Details:

I designed and fabricated this chess set with three friends for a course on advanced CAD/CAM techniques. Our team chose to give the set an abstract feel by distilling the pieces down to simple curves, while retaining the most essential elements of each piece so that they could be immediately recognized in gameplay. We machined the pieces primarily on the TL-1, with all secondary operations being done on a ProtoTRAK 3-Axis CNC mill. They were then sandblasted and sent out for clear and black hard-coat anodization. The chessboard was made from a milled plate of aluminum with inlaid press-fit black acrylic squares.

Results:

The set was chosen to be in the 2012 Philly Works design show and is still out in the mechanical engineering display case in the engineering building at UPenn.