This is a box that opens 180˚ into a flat chessboard and closes to neatly contain your pieces. It requires no AMS, but uses glue and magnets (the magnets are semi-optional—the box should click closed without them—but that mechanism may wear down with use).

Design and Inspirations

There are many other folding chess boxes available but none quite fit my needs, so this is a new model that takes inspiration from those designs. The basic shell is from CaseBuilderLibLite, edited in OpenSCAD and TinkerCAD.

The chess pieces shown are BigBadBison's Spiral Chess Set, scaled so the pieces are 22mm at the base. Other folding chess boxes to consider: DerekCaelin's, tselling's, kumoi's, FrancoisLeBoiss', ruiaxe's, tou11's, ahaywood24's, JuanBergoglio's, subnebula's, MakerspaceHaagseHout's, Leafey's, and probably others!

Printing Instructions

Print the 200x200mm box with supports, then print 32 squares in a contrasting color. Glue squares into insets and glue four 10x3 magnets into the corners, being careful of magnet orientation. Scaling down a little may work, but too much and the hinges will fuse.

Print orientation is a bit tricky. With the chessboard against the bed, you have to peel 32 little 1mm-deep support squares out and the resulting texture may keep the insets from sitting flush, but it's fastest and wastes the least material. With the chessboard face-up, you have to fill the entire box with support material, and the inside will be rough. I settled on printing it standing on end; this is still slow and wastes material, but less so, and the rough surfaces are minimized.