So, it has been a little while! Lots of work has been going on, which has basically been a full rebuild of BDR using everything I have learned from the last two events. I'm still unsure whether it is still BDR, or moving on to BDR2, but whatever.

First things first, 4WD has been the aim since December. To accommodate the extra set of motors and wheels, this means a new chassis. A change of colour too! Chassis is 20mm as with last time, with a few extra bits of 10mm in areas where I need the space.

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One of the major learning points was my fight with Pressure Point in January. The joins in the top of the HDPE were too exposed and weakly joined together. To rectify this, the top, side and base panels now all interlock using box joints. This will mean that the chassis material will bear the load of a lot more force when damaged, rather than the screws holding it together.

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Much more secure!

The move to 4WD also meant dropping a wheel size from 120mm to 100mm. This meant new mounts from Nat that were reduced by 10mm to give the same ground clearance as previous. Gearboxes were taken apart and given a bit of TLC with some molybdenum grease. Good as new!

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Electrics were just a straight transfer from the old chassis. To prevent a repeat of the wire pulling incident from January, we resoldered all of the motor connections with solid-core wire.

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The move to 4WD means less space in the toaster, so a mezzanine level has been built in. ESCs go underneath to get all of the motor wiring out of the way. All the battery stuff goes on top for easy access.

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The ESCs have also been reprogrammed to eliminate the issue with having to double-tap the stick to reverse, which was pretty vital. My transmitter has also been converted to a dual spring return setup, so this version of BDR will be running on tank steering (finally!).

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New chassis, same toaster. Design has been changed so I can lift the whole toaster off to do maintenance now, rather than messing around with a lid where the slices are. Much easier. We've also added some domed washers to the screws, which I think look awesome!

Just need to sort out re-cutting the front and back polycarbonate panels, then fit the new dustpans, then we're combat ready for Robodojo next weekend (coronavirus permitting)! Very excited.