DIY e-board

Assembled with off-the-shelf parts.  The first e-board uses Omron TL-W5MC1 clone sensors; the second e-board uses plain wires.

https://youtu.be/uJqjMlebuHc

I've been using the first e-board for a while now on OTB games (actually replacing the DGT e-board because it writes to USB).  This e-board uses normal, weighted chessmen so replacements are easy to get.

The second e-board was made a while back, and I'm missing some of its chessmen, which must have conductive bases.  Conductive felt works on this e-board, which can give the chessmen a normal look.

When I get some time, I'll setup my magnetic (hall effect sensor) e-board and give a demo.

I had wanted to also show that the chessmen must be centered on the DGT e-board but didn't feel like setting up the DGT e-board.  Although the DGT e-board allows for more detection range, because there's no indication on the DGT e-board on whether the chessmen is recognized so they must actually be centered more carefully.

What is a "e-board"?

electronic chessboard.

DGT e-board is the industry gold standard.  But it costs more than $10.

http://www.digitalgametechnology.com/index.php/products/electronic-boards

Oh...that's lame

It's not for everyone.

My original project into e-board was to equip USCF scholastic tournaments with free e-boards so that young players can have a record of their games.  So my target price was < $10.  The second demo'ed e-board can be made at <$3 but unfortunately it requires special chessmen.

This is really a fantastic project you've created!

Hello,

Your first eBoard Looks great (the one with the inductive sensors)!

I'd like to build one, too, but I'm a bit afraid by the cost for the Omron TL-W5MC1 sensors (≥ 40€ a piece).

I saw cheaper inductive sensors in a cylindric form 12 mm diameter, 50 mm long, at around 6€ a piece, so making the board quite bulky and still somewhat expensive, though cheper as a complete DGT set (600€).

Any suggestions for a better/cheaper inductive solution ?

Did you experience with micro switches, like the ones used in keyboards ?

Thanks for your advice

BBP

have you found any arduino or raspberry pi guide to make a Homemade DGT?

Hi,

I used Omron clones for the simplicity, which is similar to your price.  I don't recommend building using these sensors if your goal is to save money.

If you want induction sensors and calibrate each piece, maybe you can use fewer sensors (like a grid type detection). Another idea is wire your own induction loops with wire and detect the voltage changes (this potentially can cost very little).

If you don't need induction sensors, you can save a lot of money by using magnetic pieces (like what you find in travel chess sets); like <$0.50 per sensor. Also, you can flip the magnet polarity on white and black pieces to make the software even better.

Micro switches can definitely work (it'll be kind of like the wire-contact e-board near the end of my demo) but with switches, you probably can't have the natural movements like sliding a piece.

I wrote my own software kind of piecemeal so didn't look around for a guide.

I created one a while ago which also links to chess.com by copying the moves to chess.com and showing the opponent moves. I made a guide here: https://wouterschols.github.io/SmartChessboard/_build/html/index.htmlhttps://github.com/WouterSchols/ and a video of the final result is here https://youtu.be/_KUqZN6Au7g

The hardware is based on  http://chess.fortherapy.co.uk/home/a-wooden-chess-computer/design-ideas-for-easy-to-build-beaglebone-black-chess-computer/ which is the best hardware guide. (Although some improvements can be made (see my guide on my main improvement idea)).