Machining Multiple Squares

what if you used some square stock like Tom suggests above. cut to a usable length and then use a 4 jaw chuck and face the four sides so that it is as square as you can make it. use a bandsaw to slice up the bar into the 64 squares needed. You don't saw what the swing is on your lathe but if you attach (epoxy?) the squares to the finished bottom and then face them all in place on the lathe. This should control for squareness and thickness as long as your lathe has a large enough swing to hold the finished size board and only needs a lathe and a bandsaw

btw, not sure this will work but it is a good thought experiment on how to manage this with limited tools.
 
At work I only have access to a mini lathe. I'm gonna see what the makerspace has. When I asked them they said they have a 'rugged old lathe'. I think trying to get a whole chessboard chucked properly would prove difficult for me, but that finish would look sweet. I think if the space doesn't have a CNC mill, I will go with the square stock option.
 
At the very least would it be possible to somehow mount the board in sections for the face milling prior to final assembly of the entire board? So maybe mount 3 rolls of 3 cubes (9 square cubics of the square stock, assuming that would fit in the lathe for the facing operations) wont be a perfectly flat board but it would be pretty darn close i would think.
 
Latinrascalrg1 said:
At the very least would it be possible to somehow mount the board in sections for the face milling prior to final assembly of the entire board? So maybe mount 3 rolls of 3 cubes (9 square cubics of the square stock, assuming that would fit in the lathe for the facing operations) wont be a perfectly flat board but it would be pretty darn close i would think.
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I'm not sure I'm following. Do you mean assemble the board in quarters or thirds and face the top surface before assembly or something with grouping the individual squares?
 
rtchal said:
I'm not sure I'm following. Do you mean assemble the board in quarters or thirds and face the top surface before assembly or something with grouping the individual squares?
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Yes that is correct I Think, lol. Im not sure how many spaces a chess board has exactly but im thinking it may be possible to "Sub Assemble" a 1/4 of the overall square spaces at a time in order to face mill in sections in case the lathe Cannot handle the entire board surface in one piece.
 
Surface grinder would be a way to do that in a most precise way. I know you didn’t say you had access to that but if you asked around the maker space or at work it might turn up someone whom could do it. Maybe someone on this site?

Get 2 inch stock. Go with 1.80 squares to allow .100 removed from sides on the surface grinder to true up the stock and give straight corners. Cut the squares to 0.5 on the vertical band saw then grind those to 0.3. Would be nice clean surfaces all around. Glue down to one piece metal base.

One nice way to get grinding done would be to offer the grinder to make him a set of chess pieces too. So they end up with same nice set for their time. Someone in the past did that with the electro plater for sets of aluminum dominos since it is easy to make an extra set.

And be sure to post photos here of the project
 
rtchal said:
Hello all,
Lately I have been making miniature chess pieces out of wax at work in my spare time, but I want to take it to the next level. I want to make a full chess set out of brass, with one team being polished and lacquered and the other team being heat tarnished or tarnished with liver of sulfur then lacquered. I want to use the same idea to make the checkered pattern on the board. I have an idea and plan for everything in my head except for the board itself.

My main question is how to make 64 squares that are identical enough to make a nice checkerboard. I definitely have access to and know how to use a lathe, but I don't know if I will have access to a mill or any other equipment. I am going to visit my local makerspace this week or next to see what they have. I also do not have any experience with a mill.

Also, I don't know how/what I will be attaching the squares to, so any ideas there are also welcomed.

Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you guys soon!
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There are a number of different approaches depending upon available machines and fixturing.

One approach would be to stack the pieces in a vise and face all of them at once. If the pieces are 1/16", the stack would be 4" which is a bit long but it is doable. One advantage to this approach is there will be virtually no burrs resulting in nice crisp edges. If possible, buy strip of the right width which will eliminate facing two edges. A possible issue is the cutting plane isn't parallel with the floor of the vise which would give rise to different sizes on the squares.

You could also face the edges of individual squares. Machine two adjacent edges to finished condition and perpendicular to each other. Then set up the mill to face to the proper size and lock the quill. Use some backup pieces on each face to prevent bending and minimize burrs. Face edge # 3 and flip 90º to face edge #4. Use a witness mark to ensure that you follow the same sequence for each piece.

Another approach would to use a sheet metal shear. I would first cut into strips ( if you can buy the right width strip, this will save you some time and effort. Than cut pieces slightly oversize in the other dimension. Set up fixturing on the table of the shear to position each piece and cut the last edge to final size. If the shear is set up right, there will be very little burring but when shearing, the pieces should be oriented so the burrs are all on the same face. With care, you should end up with well fitting pieces.

The whole process could be done manually using a band saw, a vise and a file. The pieces would be roughed out oversized and deburred. To ensure flat edges, two pieces of hardened steel could be set up on either side as file guides. A little fixturing work would set up for filing the second edge square to the first. With two finished edges square to each other, the remaining edges just need to be parallel to the first two. Some more fixturing will set this up.
 
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