Its been a while but finally things have settled after the champs and I have been able to sit down and examine both robots.

Binky was in a fit state after the champs to also do fleet, basically because she never really fought. At the champs one of the bulkheads broke, a thin walled section that held in the weapon bearing finally broke. This has been replaced with a 8mm thick plate, which is partly recessed into the original hole, that we got welded on. Its a little too thick to get all the needle runners in so we will skim it off and she will be as good as new.

Binky was also fitted with 8 small magnets this year, positioned around the wheels. This seems to have help reduce the moments where she waggles one side in the air, and makes driving her much easier.

However, something has happened that I never thought possible. The massive disc has cracked, probably all the way through. This is at the thick rim section which is a massive 25mm by 20mm of solid D2 tool steel. When we actually looked up D2's properties it turns out its about as tough as cheese (exaggeration but you get the idea). The Americans favourite S7 is around 6 times tougher than D2. D2 is also only around 8% harder than S7, the case hardening did help but it seems that may have been its undoing allowing the crack to propagate all the way round and then into the material.

My thought of when this happened was the gladiator. When Binky's weapon belt snapped Galactus drove straight into the stationary disc, probably hitting it so hard that it deformed and snapped. We are going to attempt a repair by grinding down deep where the cut is and then filling the resulting groove with a massive weld, but this disc may have had it.

However, this does mean I can design her a new Disc! I have several special designs in mind for various materials and robots so watch this space!

Now, Conker 3 was mechanically OK after the champs. Everything functioned but from the massive hits it dealt out and received she isn't going to be running for a while.

Issue 1 is that the weapon itself is about as square as a banana. I hit massacre's bar so hard that not only did I bend his up at around 30 degrees but also twisted my own weapon. This resulted in the bearings on one side exploding every match after that; tapered rollers do not like being off angle! I will have to get a new, stronger weapon cut and I will be using deep grooved bearings from now on: much cheaper and more willing to be misaligned.

Issue 2 is the damaged caused in one hit by 720, snapping the rear bar and twisting the Hardox armour. It couldn't have been any worse really. The armour was never designed to take a hit in that direction and it was at the perfect height for 720 to hit it at full force. The robot actually flexed so much in the hit that my weapon hit the bulkhead, taking a thin chunk off one side. It even had enough force to turn the holes in the titanium into ovals but that's not a problem when I cinch all the CSK bolts up tight.

Once the Hardox is bent back into shape and I have machined a new rear bar (I am definitely going Grade 5 Ti) she will be ready to fight again.

Unbelievably the 3D printed drive system survived the entire event unscathed! Nothing broke! Given it saved me around 200g in aluminium pulleys and wheel mounts I am defiantly keeping that for next year. As for the 3D printed battery mount, I might have another stab at it. I may try wrapping it in fibreglass or dipping it in some kind of resin with fibres in to prevent it from cracking along the build lines. The alternative is welding a Titanium one directly to the base plate, much stronger but far more permanent if I have to modify it.

Overall, it could have gone much better but at least this time I am not doing a total rebuild on Conker like the previous 2 years. Conker 3 is a far better machine than the other two, and once I get all the kinks ironed out I am sure I can get her seeded. The same goes for Binky, but after everything that happened this year nothing is out of the question once a fight starts!