Dead or alive. led chess set 3d model for 3d printers free

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Designer

lucaeale

3d model description

This is a modern take on the traditional chess set, tweaked to meet the LightItUp Challenge goals and to make it even cooler ;).

Every piece contai...ns a low-tech 'Gravity Switch' that powers an LED light only when the pieces are upright.
When a piece is taken, or the King resigns, it is reclined and their inner lights goes off. when stored, lights are off.

the LED unit is removable and standardized for every piece. it is run by a small battery, which is replaceable.
The entire LED Unit can be swapped out and substituted with pennies, to give the pieces bottom weight and balance.

The design of the set is modern and classic at the same time.
I love some of the modern designs as well as some of the 'thematic' ones, and some are outright gorgeous.
However, one issue that i often see is that they are not easily "playable", because the pieces are not obvious, so it takes some time to "learn" what shapes/character corresponds to what piece, and it might not be intuitive to "see" the situation on the board at a glance, especially for people who would not be using the set frequently.

So we wanted to maintain the "classic" look, feel and playability of chess, but with a more modern twist.

Unfortunately our Printrbot Simple has been misbehaving in the last few days, (the fishline drive broke and, after fixing, prints are coming out all slanted and with not enough resolution/accuracy, which is essential to get the Gravity Switch working), so i don't think we will be able to post pictures of the finished product in time, although i will try to at least get one done.
if not, we will update later on.

a first version of all the STL files is uploaded. as i said, we haven't printed them yet, so there might be issues and if needed we will repost a 'fixed' version

the chess pieces have two separate types:
the _base pieces are just normal pieces. they have a chamber in the bottom to hold wight (pennies should fit snug) and a cover to close.
the _LED pieces are designed to host the LED unit.

the pieces are sized for a large chessboard.
for smaller ones, they should scale down without much problems

3d model print parameters

BASE SET: use the files named *****_base, and the cover. print and fill the bottom chamber with pennies. probably around 3perimeters, 30% infill would... be fine, to get some weight to the pieces. glue cover in place. LED SET: use the files named *****_LED, and 16 assembled Gravity Switch Units. Do not glue the Unit in place, if you want to change the battery at some point The pieces are printed at zero infill, with two-three walls, so that the light from the LED still shines through the piece. print with NO support. The "ceiling" of the chamber containing the LED unit is unsupported, and it is 1mm lower than the perimeters connecting them to the piece, so it will not print (hothead will just extrude plastic). This is OK and it is by design. just remove the messy guts after the print is done. it leaves a gap inside the piece, so the LED light only has the external walls to shine through. this should be batter than making a hollow piece with the hole, as then it would require both internal and external walls, and it would be much more complex to print. however, we will have to try things out to figure out what works best. GRAVITY SWITCH UNIT it contains 3 printed parts: - battery holder - switch case - LED holder, plus you will need a small steel bearing. the switch case has a conical internal shape, at the bottom of which are two wire 'rails' (solid stripped wire). inside the chamber is placed a small steel bearing. when the piece is vertical, the small bearing ball sits at the bottom of the chamber, and is in contact with both rails, closing the circuit from the battery to the LED, when the piece is on its side, the ball rolls away, opening the circuit and switching off the light. the wiring should be pretty intuitive A. from the contact at the bottom of the battery to the LED B. from the top of the battery to one of the rails at the bottom of switch chamber C. from the other rail in the switch chamber to the LED. make sure the LED is in the correct orientation. wire the pieces. insert the steel bearing and glue the 3 parts together. insert the battery and the LED should turn on. we'll include picture of the assembly when we get the printer back together and working.