3D printed Bauhaus chess-set

TeamTeamUSA replicated the Josef Hartwig's Model I chess set (created in 1922 at Bauhaus Weimar) as a series of 3D models on Thingiverse, the community for freely reproducable 3D files. Thingiverse user Le Garage refined the models so they could be readily printed, and now anyone can output a set from a 3D printer.

Bauhaus Model I 1922 Chess Set by Le_Garage

• [SamSam]

  A cool idea, but why does the resolution seem so terrible? I thought 3D printing had gotten much finer than this. Was this done on Thingverse’s printers, or is this a demo?

  • [Lobster]

    Ugh, yeah. Those look uncomfortable to touch.

    • [Wally Ballou]

      Ugh indeed.

      Looking at this chess set reminds me of the dreadful brutalist building (happily now demolished) I used to see every day on my way to work.

      Thankfully those who like this sort of thing may enjoy the “Bauhaus chess set” upon their own game tables, concealed from public view.

  • [PaulR]

    For comparison with the originals, see here:
    http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/c/u/bauhaus_moma_09_06.jpg

  • [duann]

    Hey Sam, this is MakerBot type 3D printing, which is very cool in a DIY kinda way but nowhere near the resolution of commercial 3D printers that output down to the microns.. Check out EOS, Stratysys and 3D systems and online services like Shapeways and Ponoko

• [Anonymous]

  As a commenter on the original article puts it so well, I felt I would echo:

  “Looks like something you’d get free from a cracker … and complain about.”

• [benher]

  The sanding, buffing, refining stage of 3D printing is the one that I wish to have more information about.

  Some of the latest ‘you can afford it’ 3D printers boast pretty fine details, but to achieve the maximum detail offered by the specs, I’d imagine you’d need some sculpting skills

  (for example, could you make usable threaded screws?)

• [shashi2005]

  It’s obvious that the king has a cube on it, and the queen has a sphere on it.

  He had a stair carpet with an alternating pattern of paisley-ish alternating squares and circles.
  I remember thinking as a toddler that the squares represented my dad, and the circles represented my mum.

  Is it as obvious to others as it is to me? Which is the queen and which is the king?

• [Anonymous]

  Guys, you have to realize that this is an adaption of Hartwigs chess game design. Here is the original, in my opinion much more beautyfull.

  http://www.connox.com/categories/children/toys/bauhaus-check-set.html

  I somehow also like the poor quality of this 3d printed one.
  Will try to use it as adesign component and print the original design

• [TimDrew]

  I’m a fan of 3d printing for, amongst many other reasons, the potential for fabricating things that are, by the intrinsic nature of their shapes, quite difficult to make with any other method.

  However, not sure I see why they chose something comprised of basic block units that could be more effectively made by even a modestly skilled woodworker in an afternoon (and remain truer in spirit to the original).

• [EH]

  3D computer-controlled sander, I See A Great Need.

• [manicbassman]

  are these designs legally in the public domain now?

• [LollyD]

  If you want to design your own insanely cool, funky chess board – try this site

  http://www.glosgames.com

  They make vinyl rollup chess boards. You can check out the designs they have or make your own in any color w/ your own pictures or images all for $20. Neat-O!

• [RebNachum]

  I dunno. I think these are more true to the spirit of Bauhaus qua Bauhaus than even the original wooden set.