ChessBoard

About

An interactive chess board hardware design based on Arduino Nano ESP32 and KiCad.

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[!TIP] If you're just interested in manufacturing your own board, see the quick-start section below

It includes:

• Main schematic and PCB project files
• Local symbol, footprint, and 3D model libraries under lib/
• Manufacturing export artifacts under jlcpcbProduction/
• Utility scripts under scripts/ for project-related automation

The goal is to keep everything needed to inspect, edit, and manufacture the board inside this repository.

This PCB is based on Concept Bytes design, along with their GitHub repository. The design is new, although heavily insipired by their work and their guides should work in getting you set up on the embedded development side.

This design is optimised for JLCPCB production.

Quick start

1. Head over to releases, and grab the JLCPCB_Gerber.zip, JLCPCB_Bill_of_materials.csv and JLCPCB_Positions.csv files from the latest release.
2. Heaver over to JLCPCB to get and instant PCB quote.
3. Upload the JLCPCB_Gerber.zip, let JLC process it.
4. Select your desired PCB colour (in PCB Specifications) - they're all free
5. Under High-spec Options, select Mark on PCB to 2D barcode Only.
   1. For Prefix, choose a sensible name like ChessBoard
   2. For 2D Barcode Size you must select 10*10mm
   3. For 2D Barcode Position select Specify Position
6. Select PCB Asembly - there is a choice here
   1. Default - economic. You'll have to source the 74HC595N shift register yourself from a supplier like Mouser, DigiKey, Farnel or Amazon. Ensure you're buing a DIP-16. This should be relatively easy to solder and will reduce the costs by around 40%.
      1. For PCBA Type, select Economic
      2. For Assembly Side, select Top Side
      3. Unless you need 5 assembled boards, reduce PCBA Qty to 2
      4. For Tooling holes select Added by Customer
   2. Standard. JLC will put the shift register in for you. I have not included edge rails or fiducials in the design.
      1. For PCBA Type, select Standard
      2. For Assembly Side, select Both Sides
      3. Unless you need 5 assembled boards, reduce PCBA Qty to 2
      4. For Edge Rails/Fiducials select Added by JLCPCB. Their engineer will modify the design slightly to include the extra rails.
      5. In the PCB Remark section above, add in a note that you'd like to have V-cuts to create snappable edge rails.
7. Review your PCB, and click next
8. Upload JLCPCB_Bill_of_materials.csv as your BOM file and JLCPCB_Positions.csv as your CPL file. Let JLC process the files.
9. You should get the following different parts (assuming you're making 2 boards):
   • (2 * 64 = ) 128 LEDs
   • (2 * 8 = ) 16 Resistors
   • (2 * 64 = ) 128 Hall effect sensors
   • (2 * 1 = ) 2 Shift registers (this will only appear if you pick assembly on both sides)
10. Verify component placement i.e. does any part look out of place. If all is well, select next to get your final manufacture quote.
11. Profit?

Setup

1. Install KiCad (recent stable version recommended).
2. Clone this repository.
3. Open ChessBoard.kicad_pro in KiCad.
4. Verify the project libraries resolve correctly (symbols, footprints, and 3D models under lib/).

Optional (for helper scripts):

1. Install Python 3.10+.
2. Create and activate a virtual environment.
3. Install script dependencies:

pip install -r scripts/requirements.txt

Usage

Typical workflow:

1. Open the project in KiCad.
2. Edit schematics in ChessBoard.kicad_sch (and related sheets).
3. Update and route the PCB in ChessBoard.kicad_pcb.
4. Run DRC/ERC checks before export.
5. Generate manufacturing outputs and keep jlcpcbProduction/ in sync when changes affect fabrication.

Optional helper scripts can be run from the repository root, for example:

python scripts/fix3D.py
python scripts/fixColours.py
python scripts/qr_detector.py

Review any generated or modified files before committing changes.