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Ecliptic design now available in ABS plastic

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Yenster1
conorokane wrote:

Yenster1 - this looks fantastic. Very nice customization. I see you've added some red felt too, I'm thinking of re-felting my set with blue. I really like this matte finish though, I might try that too.

@conorokane Oh yeah I forgot to mention that red felt... I just happened to have that red self-sticking felt lying around, so I thought why not. I just stuck it over the existing felt and just cut around the bottom. It's working quite well.

Yenster1

@conorokane And please forgive me for not saying so earlier....Thanks for designing this set. It is rather unique and stylish, and gives variety to otherwise plastic Staunton pieces. Thanks again.

Rsava

@Yenster1 - what a great mod to the set. I wish I had the fine motor skills and patience to do that, as @conorokane says, it looks fantastic.

Conor, I truly have to give you more kudos on the set, a very nicely done set of pieces and a good addition to my collection.

Powderdigit

Yes indeed, a cool modification. Well done! I had to laugh too - while the folding board that came with my set is well made and serviceable, like Yenster, when I got home I immediately placed them on a similarly colour wooden board. The pieces sat comfortably on the upgraded board. Here’s the board folded and open and then the pieces on my wooden board.

DesperateKingWalk

Here is what the this chess set reminds me of except the eggs makes for a better pawn.

Yenster1

Now wait just a minute there @Powderdigit ... how did you acquire this set? Might you have procured it from Conor with a few beers? wink hmmm

Stockfishdot1
conorokane wrote:
RussBell wrote:

Re design of the Knight. Eliminate the stem between the horse and the base. IMO, it offers no improvement, functionally or aesthetically, over a design without it. In fact, in terms of asthetics, it detracts from the design.

I love this idea. I wonder why no-one has has tried this before. Here's how it would look:

I just need to figure out the ideal arrangement of magnets concealed within the piece to get the head to hover above the base.

If the top is suspended how would you move it?

DesperateKingWalk
Yenster1 wrote:

Now wait just a minute there @Powderdigit ... how did you acquire this set? Might you have procured it from Conor with a few beers? hmmm

I will bet Corona but I have had a few less! cry

Powderdigit

Ha, yes I did purchase it and pick it up from him yesterday - and I purchased him a few drinks too. As I noted, it was great to chat to Conor … it was cool to hear how some design aspects of these pieces have been inspired by historical chess sets but also aspects of typography and quill pens … I won’t do it justice to try to explain but it was fun to listen.
He also gets the divisive nature of the pieces too… some will like it, some will not - take Lou’s view of the stem on the knight as being an example. I love such discussions …my sense is it’s never going to compete with other plastic sets - take Shelby’s wonderful ‘ultimates’ and their design focus on playability and innovative weight system … I still want that set but this maybe is a different market - I’ll have this on rotational display to start conversations in my home and gladly use it play at the pub too.👍

PS - I also got some prototypes too - to see the evolution of the pieces and how they come out when 3D printed! I’ll post photos another time but it’s all very interesting. I’ll also not some drawback/issues I note with the pieces when I get a chance too.

DesperateKingWalk
Powderdigit wrote:
Ha, yes I did purchase it and pick it up from him yesterday - and I purchased him a few drinks too. As I noted, it was great to chat to Conor … it was cool to hear how some design aspects of these pieces have been inspired by historical chess sets but also aspects of typography and quill pens … I won’t do it justice to try to explain but it was fun to listen.
He also gets the divisive nature of the pieces too… some will like it, some will not - take Lou’s view of the stem on the knight as being an example. I love such discussions …my sense is it’s never going to compete with other plastic sets - take Shelby’s wonderful ‘ultimates’ and their design focus on playability and innovative weight system … I still want that set but this maybe is a different market - I’ll have this on rotational display to start conversations in my home and gladly use it play at the pub too.👍

I am tired of being right. cry

Conor_OKane

I decided to refelt my Ecliptic pieces in blue.

I used stiffened felt, which is thicker and more rigid than traditional felt or billiard-table baize. This allows it to be cut with a compass cutter.

Here are all the felt discs ready to apply. I attached them with PVA glue. The black velvet on the bases can be easily peeled off.

And here's the end result:

I've paired them with a blue/white vinyl roll-up board to make this an ideal travel set. The Ecliptic pieces have fairly broad bases so they are more comfortable on a larger board. This board is 2.15" squares which I think fits them well.

Powderdigit

👌Looks great. 👍

PWalker1

Interesting @conorokane and agreed, you did a professional job of re-felting. You learn something new every day, should you be willing to look for and accept it. A "compass cutter" is new to me, and now going to try to find one. thumbup So happy you shared pictures of your process.

DelphinSnow
Yenster1 wrote:

I have the mousepad board, but prefer to use a wooden board at home. I prefer a matte look over the glossy look, and it was fairly easy to dull the finish with a fine sanding sponge. I also gave some color to some of the pieces with colored putty. 

What kind of grit did you use to dull the pieces, Yenster1 ? I have some glossy plastic pieces that I would like to sand.

Yenster1

@DelphinSnow I used this sanding sponge from Walmart that only says 'fine' so there wasn't a grit spec. I had 600 grit sandpaper, which felt very similar in grit, but bought this sponge to better suit the curved surfaces. I also used this sponge to "de-gloss" a shiny 'BCBESTCHESS' board from Amazon with great results...a smooth matte finish.

DelphinSnow

@Yenster1 Thank you, that gives me some idea of what I should be looking for.

Conor_OKane

I sent a set to Al Su Chess and he was kind enough to make a review video:

The unboxing and review starts at 7:30 so feel free to jump ahead to skip the (rather long) introduction. Alex was particularly impressed with the mouse-pad board and so this video shows some nice close-ups of the stitching and print on the board, as well as excellent clear photography of the pieces themselves.