Screw Chess! or Better Chess Figures Made Out of Screws

Hello World,

Ok first  instructable so forgive any newbie mistakes.

This thing I did last year in January and I actually made enough pictures to start with an instructable.
Although I think this won't come as a surprise for many.

Chess sets out of screws is not new but for me it was a fun little project.

For this I decided only to make the figures, since I already had a nice wooden chess board, so I made sure before I bought any screws how much space I had for each figure. This determined the size of screw I could get.

A small check-list

- Screws/Nuts/Washers/Couplings/Etc. (a fair few)
- two spray can's (different colour & optional)
- felt pieces (used for chairs and sofas etc.)

Some spare time... to play with the screws till you have your own kind of figures, figured out.

I suggest listening to an audio book.

I have no pictures of all the iterations of my chess figures they were quite wild to begin with.

Let's say I was not totally in a chaotic mood and logically started with the pawn...

easy and a bit smaller than the other screws I bought and of course you have to make 16 of those.

One screw, two nuts, and this acorn nut thingy for the top.

1... 2 ... 3... etc.

Then after this boring task you should go for one of the fancy figures; Knight, Bishop or King and Queen

And to help me along I decided to put the finished pieces in to boxes so I won't forget a piece or make one too much.

In the end the order in which you design your figures does not matter.

But you have to keep an eye on balance, stability and your screw supply.

I also made sure that one can distinguish the importance of the pieces easily.

Mainly by using longer screws and couplings for the more important pieces.  

Queen / Tower / Bishop

I was not entirely happy with my spray cans and the result.

If I were to be in the same situation again I think I would spent some more time thinking over alternatives to distinguish the two sides. 

Also I have no worthy pictures of the actual act of spraying the pieces but I think, as it is quite easy, it is also not needed.

Some finished pieces instead.

Last step in my construction were those self-gluing felt pieces (lower right corner).

I put one beneath each figure for easy gliding, noise reduction and a better stand.

One exception, the Knight... was not really going to work with the design I chose.

I hope this gives you the push you needed to make one yourself, and maybe it even was helpful or new to you.

Thanks for reading

PB