Trophies of (Robotic) War

Time to whip up trophies for the upcoming Machines Behaving Badly tournament.  Over the years the nature of the awards has changed a little.  We now have a single three pound weight class instead of 3 pound and 1 pound classes.  And with less creative use of "junk" I reluctantly retired the Steve Schmitt Golden Dumpster Award a couple of cycles ago. We still have a Best Design Award and in recent years a Black Knight Award for perserverence in the face of adversity has been handed out, emblazoned of course with the immortal words "Only a Flesh Wound".

Trophies have always been tossed together from workshop refuse.  This year I cut up some heavy gauge tube steel from, well I forget from what.  And topped it with some huge bulldozer lug nuts that I got at Amble's Machinery and Hardware.

No matter what his trade or profession, I do think a man should know how to weld.  My kids are better than I am in this regard, but on a sunny afternoon I hauled out the welder and had at it.

Raw Materials

I read in the Oprah magazine once that dressing with confidence empowers you or something.  So I try to at least look like I know what I am doing.  I guess if you own your own helmet, you are a welder. Just maybe not a very good one...

Well, I've seen worse.  They are solid and the ugly welds that look like magma bird droppings are on the back side.  With a bit of practice I got my hand in and considered writing 1st, 2nd, 3rd on the tube steel with artistic welds.  But decided not to push my luck.

Add some spray paint.

"Black Knight" and Best Design trophies

I will probably have kids hand letter MBB14 and the appropriate script onto them with auto body touch up paint.  By the last week or so there are generally a number of kids who have finished their work and are just test driving and such.  Hopefully one or two of them will have some artistic talent.