Modern Chess Pieces in 3D Printing

positive mold is printed for a negative silicone mold:

In Fusion i was building modern Chess Pieces. My chess is a modern chess that stands for the conquest of living space in cities. This means that each symbol, i.e. each figure, has a position in the city. Example: The knight is a hill and symbolizes thinking outside the box, breaking new ground and stands for the new generation. The symbols are based on gender neutrality and do not form a hierarchy. equality for all.

-> end product are concrete figures that are cast.

The Chess print:

PLA 1,75mm

Second Glu

Acrylic based spray paint

The Concrete Pieces:

2 component silicone

poplar wood (for the frame)

wood screws

large wooden casting box (at Boesner)

Clay slag (release agent)

clay (air dried)

plaster

concrete

old bicycle tube

color pigment

Silicone mold release cream

Chainsaw oil (release agent)

2 brushes (small and large)

duct tape

Green acrylic paint

I created the figures using Fusion 360 and printed the pawns 4 times and all other figures only once. This was important for the casting process. This is how you can mass-produce the figures to fit exactly 32 figures. I printed with PLA 1,75 with the Prusa and artillery Printer. The get the best quality print all figures seperate. 

I have prepared small casting boxes made of wood. Boxes are built from poplar plywood and small squared timber into which the figures are screwed. So that the figures do not slip, they are screwed to one long side. This means that the figures are cast lying down with these molds.
The boxes are open on two sides. This means that one side is placed on another wooden board and sealed with clay at the cracks. You can now pour in from above. It is important to use a release agent to facilitate loosening beforehand. So I brushed a layer of release cream into the pre-made boxes. Then I mixed the silicone in a 2:1 ratio. After pouring in half, I waited 1 night for the first layer of silicone to harden. Then the process is repeated with the release agent and the silicone casting.
Now that the silicone casting has hardened, it is finished. There are 2 silicone halves per box.
But since silicone is too unstable to pour concrete, I made a plaster cast around the silicone layer to stabilize it.

I use the large mold boxes for the plaster cast. There the silicone halves with the figures are placed in the box as a stabilizer. The open side is placed down on the wooden surface. With the help of clay, a partition wall is built at half. So you can pour in half again. This time the release agent is clay silt. With gypsum, it is always important to ensure that it is carefully sprinkled with water. As with the silicone, you wait for the first half to harden and then pour the second half with the help of a release agent. Here, however, the sound wall is removed.
When removing it from the box, I first left the concrete block together and used a green arrow to mark it. Very important to always put the individual parts together correctly.

For the actual chess casting you now need an old bicycle tube to fix it and another release agent. Something unusual but very effective. Chainsaw oil is the release agent I used to pour concrete.
Concrete is also mixed with water. Since I wanted to have color differences for people with poor eyesight as a contrast, I stirred pigments into the concrete powder. Only then did I mix the mass with a spatula.
Here it is only poured completely once, but it is important that after pouring the cast is covered with freshness and if the concrete fails to pour again after about 20 minutes. It then hardens again overnight.
After