Midlife Crisis 3D Printer Saves Memories of Youthful Love

Most men buy a motorcycle or a convertible in their mid life crisis, maybe get a young girlfriend. I opted for a 3D printer. Then proceeded to ask: “What do I do with this thing?” I did have a few projects around the house, but eventually it became clear that the 3D printer was a luxury. Still, every once in a while, I would have a little down time and I get to build cool stuff. Today, the 3D printer helped me revive a memento of my first love.

The chess set was a gift from Snow White… It was a miniature travel chess set, hand made, very delicate. The pieces were held in place with tiny pegs going into tiny holes in the board. Over the years a few pieces got lost, and others broke. Worst was the pegs that broke in those tiny holes.

So I started with drilling those pegs out. That left me with the problem of missing pieces and broken pieces. So I decided to 3D print replacements. I took this micro chess set here. It was looking good, but missing the pegs, it was also a tad too big. So I opened it up in tinkercad, scaled it down and added the pegs.

Then came the 3D printing. Pieces being so small printing one color took about 30 minutes. And now I have a functional chess set. I guess it was worth getting the 3D printer in the end.