The Little Wood Shop 2019

[rgfixit]

So .....I'm done turning Christmas presents for the year and now it's time to get on to a new project. My neighbor has gifted me with a couple chunks of cherry. Big chunks. 1 3/4" x 8" x 36". They're drops from a huge cherry dining table he's making in the shop where he works. He also gave me a hunk of rock maple 2x2"x 4' long. I've been pondering what to do with them for a couple weeks.

Yesterday at work, it dawned on me to make a chess set. A project my son and I had talked about last year. So, here we go again. A head full of ideas to keep me occupied. How to duplicate pieces exactly, how to make the patterns, how do I want to turn them, how big must they be etc...etc....etc.....

Not to mention what kind of board will I make. A whole set of challenges in its own. How to cut and join 64 squares of different materials.

I love this stuff.

Rg

[rgfixit]

Oh....and here's a brain teaser for you.

How many squares on a chess board?

First correct answer gets a yo-yo

Honor system here.......no internet searches please.

Rg

[Raquettedacker]

Chess,  checkers  ,ours  has 64 on it.

[rgfixit]

Ha! Keep thinking

Rg

[rgfixit]

Hey, I didn't think about a checker set. Thanks for the idea.

Rg

[fishnmachine]

I actually had that problem on Logics/ Statistics test one time many moons ago. (!)   

[Raquettedacker]

I figured it out to about 82 before I looked it up and I was still way off......   

[rgfixit]

I hate to say it, but my Mom used to give her 4th graders this problem with a checkerboard work sheet. When I bumped into it searching for ideas for a board, I almost immediately knew the answer.

All through my school days, I helped her correct papers for her class. It still amazes me what it taught me. She was a very good teacher.

Rg

[rgfixit]

By the away Dom....very nice board!

Rg

[jperch]

  Good problem Bob!  The answer is 1+4+9+16+25+36+49+64=204, assuming any size square is allowed.  There are 64 ways of placing a 1 by 1 square on the board.  Now think about placing a 2 by 2 square on the board, there would be 7^2=49 allowed positions for the upper right hand corner of the 2 by 2 square.  Continue in this manner with 3 by 3 squares, etc.  If one had a n by n chessboard there would be 1+4+9+16+...+n^2 squares on such a board.  There happens to be a formula for this sum and it is equal to n(n+1)(2n+1)/6 .  So for the case n = 8 this gives 8(9)(17)/6=204. 
  Hmm, how many cubes in a Rubik's cube?  In a n by n by n Rubik's cube?
  I really like the story about your best teacher, your mom.  School teachers are undervalued these days and don't get the respect they deserve.  Part of my job involves training new mathematics teachers and there has been a serious decline in the number of people entering the field.  This could become a big problem in NYS.
jperch

[rgfixit]

My Daughter is a teacher and pretty good in math and sciences. My 14 yr. old Grandson is a wonder. Not only is he a straight A student since beginning school, but a really analytical brain. I gave this problem to him Christmas Day and he smiled at me. He took the sheet I printed and dissected it in order noting his counts. Took him about 15 minutes to come up with 204. The idea of stopping at 64 never entered his mind.

I was impressed and proud.

I'm finishing up a protype rough duplicator for my lathe, but Sunday is yo-yo day . I think all who thought about this problem deserve a yo-yo ( might even turn another one for me)

Rg

[rgfixit]

So,today was a nasty miserable day outside. Hi was 3* and winds were steady at 20+. A great day to spend in the little wood shop.

The mission was to create a fixture for he lathe to duplicate chess pieces. A little creativity, some scraps and pieces and .....







The idea is to turn a pattern piece, cut it in half, then use the fixture to rough duplicate the piece by following the pattern . I'm sure it'll get some refining, but it seems to work.

Rg

[fishnmachine]

 As long as you hold the tool square to the stock and on center, I don't see why that shouldn't work.   

[rgfixit]

As long as you hold the tool square to the stock and on center, I don't see why that shouldn't work.   

It'll work for roughing out the pawns. The other pieces I'll probably just turn by comparison. I sometimes use my dial indicator magnetic base and arms to hold small pieces behind the blank. I use the horizons to mark and match.

Ultimately, I think I may work on an x/y platen system of some sort. But, there's other things on the bench right now.

Woke up early thinking about some shapes. Spent the morning drawing out the pieces. Now I can turn the patterns.

........ After I make a few yoyos😀


Rg

[fishnmachine]

I'm curious what you come up with for knights. The rest of the pieces are pretty straight forward.