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Designing a custom chess board |Forum|WOOD DESIGNER
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October 4, 2012
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Hi Imran,
Don’t hesitate to ask your questions on the forum.
I’d love to see how your project develops.
Just one warning for making you project, in Polyboard the chess board is made of squares of veneer that show up in the cutting lists.
However if building from veneers, I wouldn’t suggest that you cut these square and then try to glue them up into a chess board.
To build the veneered top you should cut strips of veneers glued up as a panel in alternating colours using a paper support or paper tape. Then recut this sheet in the other direction to get bands with the squares.
These final bands should them be reglued up on a sheet or with tape to form the final chess board pattern.
Of course if you are making from thicker material you can just glue up bands of wood.
All the best,
Ness
Ness said
Hello Imran,In fact it’s very easy to build a chess board with Polyboard.
The trick is to use the Assembly command to create a framed panel.
Then divide the central panel into 2 layers with the Thickness Split command,
Then divide the upper layer into squares with the Surface split commands.
Each part can be assigned it’s own material and the cutting lists and drawings will all be correct to build the board.
What’s really nice is that the chess board is just the top of a cabinet so you can build a cabinet around it, making it a chess table or box or what ever you want.
In this example I have build a coffee table with a drawer . The legs are frames of cherry and the drawer made of beech with the bottom made of slats of beech.
The materials used are all Quick Design materials so they can be changed as required to play with the design.
I attach a model that you can look at to see how this is done.
If you sign up as a full member I can make you a video to explain in detail how to set this up.
All the best,
Ness
Hi Ness,
This is amazing! Thank you so much for your detailed response and the supplemental images, it is incredibly helpful. I’m sure I just need some time to get familiar with the program (as I only opened it for the first time ever yesterday 
) but having your information to start with is really helpful. I am going to spend some time over the next few days in my spare time to try and create what I have in mind, but I may very well be back to ask some questions or even sign up as a full member.
Thanks again,
Imran
November 8, 2013
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Nice design, Ness! I like the version with the drawer for the pieces, and legs in cherry.
October 4, 2012
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Hello Imran,
In fact it’s very easy to build a chess board with Polyboard.
The trick is to use the Assembly command to create a framed panel.
Then divide the central panel into 2 layers with the Thickness Split command,
Then divide the upper layer into squares with the Surface split commands.
Each part can be assigned it’s own material and the cutting lists and drawings will all be correct to build the board.
What’s really nice is that the chess board is just the top of a cabinet so you can build a cabinet around it, making it a chess table or box or what ever you want.
In this example I have build a coffee table with a drawer . The legs are frames of cherry and the drawer made of beech with the bottom made of slats of beech.
The materials used are all Quick Design materials so they can be changed as required to play with the design.
I attach a model that you can look at to see how this is done.
If you sign up as a full member I can make you a video to explain in detail how to set this up.
All the best,
Ness
Hi all, I found the Polyboard software when trying to find a program to help me design a custom wooden chess board I have in mind. I’ve watched a few of the videos of Polyboard but they and the program of course is focused on furniture/cabinet designing. Does anyone have any tips or helpful ideas on how to use Polyboard to accomplish this design?
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