Why: I decided to design and build a custom chessboard for a 10-year-old family friend who competes in national chess tournaments. Since he travels frequently for competitions, I wanted the board to be compact, durable, and easy to carry. I also wanted the design to keep the pieces in place, so he could pause and resume games, picking up exactly where he left off.

Constraints: The chessboard needed to fit in my carry-on luggage to pass through airport security and had to be completed within the two days before our flight to visit my friend.

How: To build the chess board, I used a combination of materials including a safe book, steel, and magnets. The safe book acts as both the outer casing and a storage solution, allowing the board to be discreet and protected while traveling. Steel and magnets were incorporated to ensure that the pieces stay securely in place during use, even when the board is moved or tilted. I used a simplified chess piece design that would fit within the book safe and modified them to hold magnets. By pausing the 3D print at the right moment, I was able to insert the magnets into the hollowed-out pieces, allowing them to stick firmly to the steel sheet I cut for the board.

Adjustments: One of the biggest challenges of the project was accurately measuring and scaling every component so that the entire chess set would fit perfectly inside the book safe when closed. This required careful planning, testing, and adjustment throughout the process. Another key modification involved the size and placement of the holes in the chess pieces—if the gap between the magnets and the board was too large, the pieces would not stay securely in place and could easily fall off.

Result: In the end, the board turned out exactly as I had hoped. It functions smoothly, looks clean and professional, and is perfectly sized for travel. Most importantly, my friend absolutely loves it and uses it all the time, both for practice and on the go. Seeing something I made become part of his everyday routine has been incredibly rewarding.