3D Printed Ancient Roman Magnetic Chessboard

Chess is one of the most recognizable strategy games in the world, so for this project I wanted to take the classic chessboard and give it a completely different personality.

The result is my 3D Printed Ancient Roman Magnetic Chessboard, a fully 3D-printed magnetic chess set inspired by Ancient Roman architecture and designed entirely in Tinkercad.

Instead of using a simple rectangular frame, I designed the perimeter of the chessboard with arches and architectural details inspired by structures such as the Roman Colosseum. I also designed all six types of chess pieces from basic Tinkercad shapes, giving the complete set a consistent style.

But I didn't want the project to be purely decorative.

Hidden throughout this magnetic chess board are 96 neodymium magnets. Every one of the 64 squares contains a hidden 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnet, while another magnet is embedded inside each of the 32 chess pieces. Rather than leaving the magnets visible, I pause the 3D prints at specific layers, place the magnets into internal cavities, and then resume printing to permanently seal them inside.

The final Ancient Roman chess set uses matte cream PLA for the base, white squares and white pieces, combined with matte black PLA for the black squares, black pieces, letters and numbers.

In this Instructable, I'll show you how I designed the complete chess board and all six chess pieces in Tinkercad, prepared the models in OrcaSlicer, manually added supports, embedded the magnets during printing, and assembled the final magnetic chess set.

Let's build it together!

Materials

1. Matte Cream PLA, 1.75 mm — Amazon
2. Matte Black PLA, 1.75 mm — Amazon
3. 96 × 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnets — Amazon
4. Super glue for the black squares, the coordinate frame and the pads under the board. The magnets don't need glue. — Amazon

Tools

1. Flashforge 5M Adventurer
2. Computer
3. Tweezers for positioning magnets
4. Clippers to remove support
5. Permanent marker for the reference magnet

Software

1. Tinkercad
2. OrcaSlicer to add supports and modify structure

Main Dimensions

1. Board: 164 × 164 mm
2. Board height: 10 mm
3. Chess squares: 20 × 20 mm
4. Chess squares height: 15 mm
5. Border around playing area: 2 mm
6. Magnets: 9 × 3 mm
7. Board magnet cavities: 10 mm diameter × 4 mm deep

Everything in this project was designed in Tinkercad, starting with the chessboard itself.

Create a new Tinkercad project and place a box onto the workplane.

Set its dimensions to:

164 mm × 164 mm × 10 mm

This will become the main body of the chessboard.

For the moment, change the box from Solid to Hole or use a transparent appearance so you can see the snap grid and the objects that will be positioned inside the board.

This makes aligning the individual squares much easier.

Add a new box and set its dimensions to:

20 mm × 20 mm × 15 mm

Position the first square in one corner of the playing area, leaving a 2 mm border between the squares and the edge of the board.

The box extends through the 10 mm board with approximately 5 mm remaining above it. This makes the individual squares easy to select and manipulate while designing.

Instead of filling every position, skip the next 20 mm space and place another box after it.

Continue this pattern across the first row.

For the second row, reverse the pattern so the first square begins where the previous row had an empty space.

You should now have the alternating pattern that forms a chessboard.

Once the first two rows are complete, select them and duplicate the pattern.

Move the duplicated rows into the next positions and repeat until the entire 8 × 8 chessboard has been created.

At the end, you should have 32 inserted squares and 32 empty positions arranged in the familiar alternating chess pattern.

Change the main board back to a solid object and assign different colors to the squares temporarily.

The colors don't affect the final print, but they make it much easier to visualize the finished chessboard while working in Tinkercad.

Once you're happy with the alignment, select the board and the 32 squares.

Group them into a single object.

The squares now become part of the main board geometry rather than individual objects.

At this point, the basic chessboard is complete.

Next comes the feature that makes it magnetic.

Each square needs a cavity for a 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnet.

Instead of designing a cavity exactly the same size as the magnet, I used a slightly larger cylinder to provide enough tolerance for installation.

Add a cylinder and set it to:

10 mm diameter

4 mm height

Position the cylinder directly in the center of one chess square.

Duplicate the cylinder and place one in the center of every required square.

Accuracy is important here because we want the magnetic force to act approximately through the center of each chess piece.

Once all the cylinders are positioned, convert them to Hole objects.

Lower the cylinders approximately 5 mm into the squares. At the end there should be only 1mm of surface covering the holes on top of the magnets.

Select all 32 cylinders together with the grouped base. At this point, Tinkercad should show 33 selected shapes: 32 cylinders and one board.

Group everything again.

Tinkercad subtracts the cylinders from the board and creates the internal magnet cavities.

Using Tinkercad's visibility tools, you can inspect the board and verify that the cavities are positioned correctly before continuing.

A proper chessboard needs its coordinates, so I added the letters:

A B C D E F G H

and the numbers:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

around the playing area.

These will eventually be printed as contrasting accents.

Remember that chess coordinates follow the orientation of the board, so some of the letters or numbers may initially appear backwards or out of order when viewing the design from another side.

That's intentional.

Now we get to the part that gives this chessboard its identity.

Rather than using a conventional flat border, I wanted the board to resemble a piece of Ancient Roman architecture.

I created the surrounding structure using combinations of:

1. Cylinders
2. Half-spheres
3. Boxes

By duplicating and arranging these simple shapes around the perimeter, I created repeating architectural features and arches.

The result started reminding me of a miniature Colosseum, which was exactly the direction I wanted the project to take!

This structure turns the chessboard itself into part of the theme rather than simply being a platform for the pieces.

Reference: Maison Carrée in Nîmes (16), by Krzysztof Golik (Tournasol7), 2019. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maison_Carree_in_Nimes_(16).jpg

The 32 empty positions on the board are filled with separately printed black squares, and each one carries its own magnet.

Add a box and set it to 20 mm × 20 mm × 15 mm, so it sits level with the cream squares.

Add a cylinder 10 mm in diameter and 4 mm high, convert it to a Hole, center it on the box and position it so about 1 mm of material stays above the magnet.

Group the two shapes. One square is enough: we'll duplicate it 32 times in the slicer.

For the pad, use a simple cylinder and make it 20mm x 20mm x 5mm.

With the board finished, it was time to design the chess pieces.

All six pieces were also created completely in Tinkercad using simple geometric shapes.

We'll start with the pawn.

1. Create the base using a cylinder: 13 mm diameter × 5 mm high
2. Add a smaller cylinder on top.
3. Next, add a taller cylinder with a smaller diameter to create the body.
4. Place a paraboloid above the body to transition toward the head.
5. Finally, add a sphere on top.
6. Adjust the steps, bevel and other shape settings until you're happy with the result.

The goal was to keep the piece recognizable as a traditional pawn while matching the visual style of the rest of the set.

1. Start with a cylinder: 15 mm diameter × 5 mm high
2. Add another cylinder approximately 5 mm smaller in diameter on top.
3. Add a third, slightly smaller and taller cylinder to create the body of the rook.
4. Now create the upper section.
5. Add another cylinder for the top of the tower.
6. To create the characteristic rook crown, position four boxes around the upper cylinder.
7. Convert the boxes into holes and group the objects to cut the openings into the crown.
8. Finally, use another cylinder as a hole inside the upper section to hollow it out.

The result is a recognizable rook constructed almost entirely from cylinders and simple subtractive geometry.

1. Start with the same general base: 15 mm diameter × 5 mm high
2. Place a smaller cylinder above it and then add a longer cylinder to form the body.
3. Add a ring above the body.
4. Next, add another smaller cylinder followed by another smaller ring.
5. For the upper section, combine a sphere and cone to create the characteristic bishop shape.
6. One of the most recognizable details of a bishop is the diagonal opening in its head.
7. For my version, I created this detail using Tinkercad's Scribble/Sketch-style shape tool, drawing the cutout and using it to create the opening.
8. Finish the piece by adding the small upper detail.

1. Start with another: 15 × 15 mm cylinder with a height of 5 mm
2. Add a smaller cylinder on top followed by a longer cylinder with a reduced diameter for the body.
3. Place two rings near the top, with the first slightly larger than the second.
4. Add another cylinder and another ring.
5. Now we can create the queen's crown.
6. I started with a cylinder and positioned several small boxes around its perimeter.
7. Convert the boxes into holes and group everything together. The boxes subtract material from the cylinder and create the openings of the crown.
8. Place a half-sphere inside the hollow upper section.
9. Finally, add a small ellipsoid on top to complete the queen.

The king follows some of the same design language as the queen, it's just taller.

1. Start with: 15 mm diameter × 5 mm high
2. Add a smaller cylinder on top.
3. Then add a longer cylinder with a smaller diameter to create the body.
4. Add a ring, another cylinder and another ring near the top.
5. For the king's upper section, use an inverted cone and insert it partially into the body.
6. Finally, create the king's cross using two rectangular boxes positioned perpendicular to one another.
7. Place the cross above the crown.

The king is complete.

The knight was easily the most challenging chess piece to design.

Every other piece is mostly rotational and symmetrical, which makes cylinders, cones and spheres perfect for building them.

The knight is different.

A horse's head has a much more organic shape, so I had to get creative with Tinkercad's basic geometry.

1. Start with the familiar: 15 mm diameter × 5 mm high cylinder
2. Add a smaller cylinder above it.
3. For the main head/body shape, add a stretched cylinder approximately: 8.7 × 13 × 20 mm
4. I used two hollow cones on either side of the stretched cylinder to remove material and establish the general profile of the horse's head.
5. A flattened hollow cylinder was used to cut the mouth.
6. Two small hollow spheres were then positioned around the nose to sculpt additional details.
7. Two solid spheres create the eyes.
8. Flattened cylinders create the ears.
9. Finally, a long stretched cylinder running along the rear of the head creates the horse's mane or "mohawk."
10. By combining additive and subtractive geometry, a collection of simple Tinkercad shapes gradually turns into the most organic piece in the entire set.

It took considerably more experimentation than the other pieces, but it also became one of my favorite parts of the project.

The board magnets alone aren't enough, we also need magnets inside the chess pieces.

Create a centered cylindrical cavity underneath each piece sized for the 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnets.

Add a cylinder and set it to:

10 mm diameter

4 mm height

Convert it to a Hole, center it in the base and raise it 1 mm above the workplane, so a 1 mm floor stays under the magnet. Then group it with the piece.

The cavity should keep the magnet centered underneath the piece while leaving a thin printed layer between the magnet and the playing surface.

Repeat the process for:

1. Pawn
2. Rook
3. Knight
4. Bishop
5. Queen
6. King

Once one piece of each type has been prepared, duplicate them to create the complete chess set.

Export the completed models from Tinkercad and import them into your preferred slicer. For this project, I used OrcaSlicer.

The color scheme for my chess set is:

Matte Cream

1. Main board
2. White squares
3. White chess pieces
4. Strip around the board

Matte Black

1. Black squares
2. Black chess pieces
3. Letters
4. Numbers
5. Pads under board

Before starting the print, there are three important things we need to configure in OrcaSlicer: the magnet pause, the coordinate frame, and the supports for the Roman frame.

Adding the Magnet Pause

Slice the board and carefully inspect it using OrcaSlicer's layer preview.

Find the exact layer where the printer has finished creating the magnet cavities but before it begins printing the layers that will cover them.

Add a pause at this layer.

When the printer reaches this point, we'll install the 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnets into the exposed cavities and making sure each one sits flat. Once they're installed, the print can resume and the following layers will permanently seal the magnets inside the board.

Make sure the cavities are still completely accessible at the layer you choose for the pause.

Separating the Coordinate Frame (Optional)

If you have a multiple filament printer or want to change filaments in print, you can add the pause in the slicer, but for me i want to separate the frame to later glue it.

The letters and numbers will be matte black, but changing filament in the middle of the board print would turn everything above that layer black too. To avoid that, the coordinates are printed as their own part.

Using OrcaSlicer's Cut tool, separate the section of the border that carries the letters and numbers, together with a thin cream base underneath them, from the rest of the board.

You now have two models: the main board, which prints entirely in matte cream, and the coordinate frame, which we'll print in a later step.

Manually Painting the Supports

The Roman-inspired outer frame contains overhangs that require support.

However, we do not want supports inside the magnet cavities.

If automatic supports are enabled, OrcaSlicer may generate support material inside those cavities. This would be a problem because we need them completely empty and accessible when the printer reaches our magnet pause.

Instead, we're going to manually tell OrcaSlicer exactly where support is needed.

Select the Support Painting tool.

For the tool type, select:

Fill

Now paint the underside and overhanging areas of the Roman frame that require support, as shown in the image above.

Once the required areas have been painted, go to the support settings and select:

Tree Slim (Manual)

Slice the model again and inspect the preview.

You should now see tree supports underneath the necessary parts of the outside Roman frame while the internal magnet cavities remain completely free of support material.

Take a moment to inspect several layers around the magnet cavities and Roman frame before starting such a long print.

With the magnet pause and manual tree supports configured, the board is finally ready to print.

Before installing anything, establish the orientation of your magnets.

This step is extremely important.

The rule is simple: every magnet goes in with the same face up, in the board, the black squares and the chess pieces alike.

It may seem like the pieces should be the other way round, but they aren't. Every part prints upright and every magnet is dropped in from above, so when a piece sits on the board, the bottom of its magnet meets the top of the board's magnet. Those are opposite poles, so they attract.

To keep track, take one spare magnet and mark one face with a permanent marker. This is your reference.

Before each magnet goes in, set the reference on top of it with the mark facing up. If it snaps on, the magnet is the right way up. If it pushes away, flip the magnet.

You can also check against a finished part: let a magnet snap onto a finished square, lift it straight off without flipping it, and drop it into the cavity that way up.

Checking 96 magnets individually takes a little extra time.

Removing a magnet with the wrong polarity from a partially completed print takes considerably longer!

Now it's time to complete the black half of the chessboard.

Just like with the main board, the magnets will be permanently embedded inside these pieces during printing.

Import the black-square model into OrcaSlicer and arrange 32 copies on the build plate.

Slice the models and use the layer preview to find the exact layer where the magnet cavities are completely formed but before the printer begins covering them.

Add a pause at this layer.

Start the print using matte black PLA.

When the printer reaches the pause, leave everything attached to the build plate.

Using the same polarity reference from the main board, check the orientation of each 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnet before installing it. Place one inside every square.

Make sure:

1. All 32 magnets have the same orientation as the magnets embedded in the main board.
2. Every magnet is completely seated inside its cavity.
3. No magnet protrudes above the current print layer.
4. The magnets are securely held in place before resuming.
5. Every magnet is sitting flat before resuming.

Once all 32 magnets are installed, resume the print.

The printer will cover the cavities with the remaining layers, permanently sealing the magnets inside the black squares.

When the print is finished, you'll have 32 black squares with completely hidden magnets.

Now it's time for the most important part of the print: installing the magnets inside the chessboard.

Start the board print normally using the OrcaSlicer configuration from the previous step.

The board will first print in matte cream PLA, while the manually painted tree supports hold up the overhanging sections of the Roman-inspired outer frame.

Eventually, the printer will reach the first pause we added in OrcaSlicer.

At this point, the 32 magnet cavities should be completely formed but still open from the top.

Do not remove the board from the build plate!

We need to keep the print exactly where it is so it can continue after the magnets are installed.

Before inserting anything, have your 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnets, and polarity reference magnet ready.

Take the first magnet, check its orientation against your reference magnet and carefully insert it into one of the cavities.

Repeat this process for all 32 squares.

Make sure that:

1. Every magnet is sitting completely inside its cavity.
2. Every magnet has the same polarity facing upward.
3. No magnet is sticking above the printed surface.

Take your time with this step. Once the printer covers the magnets, correcting one with the wrong orientation will be extremely difficult.

When all 32 magnets are installed, resume the print.

The printer will begin laying material over the cavities, permanently trapping all 32 magnets inside the board.

From the outside, you won't be able to see them, but they're now underneath every cream square.

When the print finishes, carefully remove the board from the build plate.

Now we can remove the manually generated tree supports from the Roman-inspired outer frame.

Carefully break the supports away from the arches and other overhanging sections.

Take your time around smaller architectural details so you don't accidentally damage them.

One advantage of manually painting the supports earlier is that the support material should be concentrated around the areas that actually needed it.

Most importantly, there shouldn't be any support material trapped inside the magnet cavities because those were left unsupported intentionally.

Of course, those cavities are now permanently sealed inside the completed board!

Clean any remaining support interface material and inspect the edges of the print.

At this point, the main structure of the Ancient Roman Magnetic Chess Board is finished.

The letters and numbers are printed as their own part, using the coordinate frame we separated in OrcaSlicer.

Slice the frame on its own and use the layer preview to find the first layer where the letters and numbers begin. Add a pause at this layer.

Start the print in matte cream PLA. When the printer pauses, remove the cream filament and load the matte black PLA. Purge enough material to clear the remaining cream from the nozzle, then resume.

The printer now finishes the letters and numbers in matte black. This works because they are the tallest features on this part, so nothing else is printed after the change.

A lesson learned: my first attempt was to make this filament change during the main board print. A filament change colors everything above that layer, not just the letters, so the printer started laying black over the board itself and I had to stop it. Printing the coordinates as a separate part avoids the problem completely.

Once the frame is finished, test-fit it on the board, check that A–H and 1–8 read correctly from White's side, and fix it in place with small drops of super glue.

I also printed 4 small pads in matte black and glued them under the board so it sits steady.

Remove the 32 finished black squares from the build plate and clean up any brim or small imperfections.

Test-fit the squares in the empty spaces of the main board before applying any adhesive.

They should complete the alternating 8 × 8 chess pattern.

Once you're satisfied with the fit, secure the squares into their corresponding positions using a small amount of super glue.

Continue until all 32 squares have been installed and place the frame over the board with some super glue on.

At this point, every one of the 64 positions on the chessboard contains a hidden 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnet:

32 embedded directly inside the matte cream board + 32 embedded inside the matte black square inserts.

From the outside, none of the magnets are visible.

Next comes our two Roman armies!

We'll need 32 pieces in total:

1. 16 matte cream pieces
2. 16 matte black pieces

Each side consists of:

1. 8 Pawns
2. 2 Rooks
3. 2 Knights
4. 2 Bishops
5. 1 Queen
6. 1 King

The chess pieces use the same embedded-magnet technique as the board.

Import the pieces into OrcaSlicer and arrange them on the build plate.

Because each piece contains a cavity in its base for a 9 × 3 mm neodymium magnet, we'll once again use the layer preview to find the point where the cavity has been completely formed but hasn't yet been covered.

Add a pause at this layer.

For the support, use Tree Slim option and color the support underneath overhangs.

You can print the cream and black armies separately, using the same process for both.

The file ChessboardPieces.3mf has all the configuration ready to print.

Start printing the chess pieces normally.

When the printer reaches the magnet pause, leave all the pieces attached to the build plate.

Now polarity becomes especially important.

The magnets inside the chess pieces need to have the goes in marked face up and pieces alike so the pieces are attracted to the board.

Use your polarity reference magnet to check each one.

You can also test the orientation against a completed section of the chessboard before permanently installing it.

Once you've confirmed the correct orientation, insert it into the cavity.

Repeat this for every chess piece currently on the build plate.

Before resuming the print, verify that:

1. Every magnet is facing the correct direction.
2. Every magnet is completely inside its cavity.
3. No magnet extends above the current layer.

Resume the print.

The following layers will permanently seal The magnets inside the chess pieces go in exactly like the board magnets: same face up.

Repeat exactly the same process for the other color.

Once both armies are finished, all 32 chess pieces will contain completely hidden magnets.

Now we can finally test the complete magnetic system.

Place one of the chess pieces over a square and slowly lower it toward the board.

You should feel the piece being pulled toward the center of the square.

Try it on both a matte cream square and a matte black square.

The attraction should work consistently because all 96 magnets were installed the same way up, so the bottom of every piece attracts the top of every square.

Move several different pieces around the board and test different positions.

The goal isn't to make the pieces difficult to remove. The magnets should provide enough attraction to help keep each piece in place while still allowing it to be picked up naturally during a game.

One of my favorite parts of the finished project is that you can't see the magnetic system at all.

There are no exposed magnets on the board or underneath the pieces.

Instead, all 96 neodymium magnets are permanently hidden inside the 3D prints:

64 magnets in the board + 32 magnets in the chess pieces = 96 magnets total.

You only know they're there when you feel a chess piece snap into place.

With the board, black squares, Roman architectural details, coordinates and all 32 chess pieces complete, the Ancient Roman Magnetic Chess Board is finally ready to assemble.

Place the pieces in their starting positions:

Rook – Knight – Bishop – Queen – King – Bishop – Knight – Rook

followed by the eight pawns.

Repeat for the opposite side.

What started as a 164 × 164 mm box in Tinkercad is now a complete magnetic chess set.

This project ended up combining several things I enjoy: 3D design, 3D printing, engineering and games.

One of my favorite aspects is that nearly everything began with Tinkercad shapes.

Boxes became a chessboard.

Cylinders became magnet cavities.

Cylinders, spheres and cones became chess pieces.

Primitive shapes and holes became a horse.

And repeating cylinders, boxes and half-spheres transformed the border of the board into an Ancient Roman-inspired structure.

The magnetic system is almost completely invisible in the finished model, but you notice it every time a chess piece snaps into position.

That's exactly what I wanted: a feature that improves the experience of actually playing chess without taking attention away from the Roman design.

And most importantly, the board is meant to be played.

Choose your army and let the battle begin!