I had a great looking hand made olive wood chess board that I got previously at the Ideal Home Show in London, and while browsing Thingiverse, I found some intresting looking chess peices which I really liked, so I decided that these would be a suitable match for the board.

Before printing the chess peices, I sanded and varnished the board.

Since I was printing these in PLA, I knew they would feel too light and unrealistic. To address this, I decided embed brass weights (which I would make on the lathe) in the base. I added a layer of felt underneath to conceal the weights, ensure smooth movement across the board, and prevent surface scratches.

I therefore had to create the appropriate holes in the base of the 3D models, as you can see in the 3D Model Viewer above. It is easier to do this than to try and drill the pieces afterwards, expecially since 3D printed objects are not usually fully solid (this saves on PLA filament and printing time).