Quote Originally Posted by SamO View Post
Errrr no, I think Endeavour can be shown as a testimony to that. Yes, if you use something like 2 screws to hold armour on then you are definitely going to run into problems. In Endeavour though, we used somewhere between 100-125 (possibly more) M4 screws to hold the whole thing together. I think its something like 26 screws alone to hold one motor down. At the champs last year (2013) we took 2 major hits on the side armour and all we got was a bit of a graze, no "panel ripping off" which is what you seem to be describing. Screws are definitely strong if used properly...
Yes 100+ screws were needed to make it effective. Or you could use 20 bolts with washers. Just my view after NST ripped Conker 1 apart and that was held together with around 16-20 screws per pannel running perpendicular to one another in pairs.

Defector was originally Hanibalito 4. (May have spelt that wrong) It's design was proven over years in other machines.