There was one benefit to the unfortunate RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) of my motor controller in my last build log— it gave me an opportunity to spend some time on quality of life improvements.

A fresh coat of paint

Lawnny is an outdoor bot, so at some point I was going to have to deal with the potential of rust on his steel frame. While he was disassembled it felt like a good time to lay on a coat of paint. For this I chose spray-on truck bed liner, but if he lives past a single season I will probably upgrade him to powder coating.

A new brain bucket

Lawnny's original control box was just an outdoor electrical junction box that I picked up from HomeDepot. It was big enough to hold the initial "dumb" (aka RC) electronics. However the end goal is to make him partially autonomous, so I knew I was eventually going to need more room.

I looked around quite to find an off-the-shelf box, but really never found the right solution. So I decided to just weld one up myself. I'm still relatively new(ish) to welding so it was a bit of a pain, but ultimately I ended up with something I could almost stand to look at.

A more professional (aka less shitty) wiring job

I'm a software engineer by trade, but a hardware enthusiast at heart. So I really do appreciate the artistry of a beautiful wiring job and also enjoy putting in the time to make things look neat and tidy. Unfortunately the time I invest never seems to end up looking how I imagine it— but at least I try.

Anyway, here is my best attempt...

A few of the most notable changes:

• I wanted something where I could use self tapping screws to easily mount things. But I also wanted it to be resistant to moisture, so wood was out of the question. I figured some sort of soft plastic sheet was the answer, but I don't have a plastics store near me. Keeping in-line with trying to source parts from local stores I could pick up the same day, I figured a plastic cutting board would to the trick. I found the perfect solution in a $12 cutting board from Walmart.
• I swapped out the 60 amp resettable fuse that I previously used (and didn't trust) with a more traditional inline maxi-blade fuse. I also dropped the fuse down to 40 amps because I don't think I'm drawing anywhere near 60 amps in the current configuration. I'm probably not even close to 40 amps, but at least now I can easily swap in different fuses to size it properly (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072JHSW5J).
• I added some terminal lugs to make it easier for future expansions to tap into the battery power (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVRXSND).
• I added a bus-type fuse block so I could add individual fuses for different legs of the wiring. Bought it at AutoZone.
• I added a 12-24V DC to 5V 5A DC converter (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SD9SH8C) so I can power my RaspberryPi, cameras, and sensors in the future. Right now it's not hooked up.
• I added thru-panel connectors for both the motors and battery so I can easily disconnect them. The motors use Anderson PowerPole connectors (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097QDKJJ2) and the battery uses an SAE connector (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHYYLTC2). 
• I added some thru-panel air vents (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TDD9CH1).

I also plan to add the following when the parts arrive this weekend:

• A panel-mount battery meter so I can see how much "fuel" is left in the tank (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0823DKDPV).
• A panel-mount latching switch (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KPBP6TS) so I can switch the computer/camera/sensor power independently from the motor power, which is currently tied to the emergency stop.

Anyway, that about sums up the major quality of life changes, and Lawnny is once again up and running after our last mishap!

I think he looks slightly more svelte than last time, would you agree?