Sunken Chess - Travel Chess Set

Chess pieces that sink into the board.

Every square is a keyed well: pieces drop 14mm down and land on the board floor, so only the sculpted tops show and nothing tips over when the table or board gets bumped. Each piece is weighted with two steel bearing balls, so the pieces have a solid feel.

No supports anywhere. No print-pauses. Nothing glued.

What you need

• ~650g PLA in two colors (pieces and tiles are two-tone by filament choice — no color changes mid-print)

• 64× 3/8" (9.525mm) steel bearing balls — two per piece, one cheap bag online

• Total print time: ~23 hours across 6 plates

What to print

Per color (×2):

• 8× pawn, 2× knight, 2× bishop, 2× rook, 1× queen, 1× king

• 16× cap

• 32× tile

Once:

• 1× base (the board floor, 178×178mm, roughly 7in. x 7in.)

First: print the three cap test discs (A/B/C, ~10 min). PLA counterbores print slightly undersize and every printer differs, so three sizes ship. Keep wth a thumb and stays put — that's your cap.

Print settings (tuned on a Prusa MK4S, 0.

All plates:

• Supports: NONE. Supports grow inside t the fits. Every part is designed support-free (internal cavities are roofed with 45° cones).

• 3 perimeters, 15% infill, Arachne perimeter generator

Pieces (0.15mm layers):

• 215°C first layer / 210°C after — hotter oe flow rates

• Brim: outer only, 2mm wide, 0.1mm gap (pieces are 30–43mm tall on a 13.5mm footprint)

  • Retraction 1.0mm @ 40mm/s

• Tiles (0.2mm layers):

  • Brim OFF — a brim burr sits on the exact face that must seat flat on the base

  • Ironing ON for the playing surface, seam at rear
    

Base (0.2mm layers): nothing special, big first layer holds itself.

Assembly (no tools, ~15 minutes)

1. Stand a piece upside down and drop in two 3/8" steel balls. They press past internal crush ribs and cannot rattle.

2. Press a cap into the counterbore until flush. The hole in its center is an air vent — without it you'd be compressing a sealed pocket and the cap pushes back out.

3. Click the 64 tiles onto the base bosses, alternating colors.

4. Done. Pieces drop through the tiles and land on the base floor.

Ever need a cap out? Thread a small self-tapping screw into the vent hole and pull. Otherwise it stays for good — that's the intent.

Numbers

• Pieces: Ø13.5mm bodies, 30–43mm tall, 11.4–13.4g each (7.1g of that is steel)

• Board: 178×178×20mm (roughly 7in. x 7in.), sink depth 14mm

• Designed parametrically in Python (build123d)