Jump to content

Wheel suggestions


Recommended Posts

I am having this problem where during take-off on completely balanced and symmetrical planes that the ships always want to pull hard to the left.  I am using medium gears with 2 on the back and one on the front.  Once the ship is in the air it's rock stable.

Can someone suggest what to do with the wheels?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Bdyer said:

I am having this problem where during take-off on completely balanced and symmetrical planes that the ships always want to pull hard to the left.  I am using medium gears with 2 on the back and one on the front.  Once the ship is in the air it's rock stable.

Can someone suggest what to do with the wheels?

The trick is to prevent the wheels from bending. Put them on the fuselage or as close to the fuselage as possible and then use the translation tool to move them outwards to where you want them. You can use struts to make the wings or the whole plane stiffer.

For example; look at the craft below how I've placed the weels; the weels are actually placed on the wings but they appear to have been placed on the engine nacelles (side pods). This thing is rock-solid under take-off (took me 3 iterations and a lot of time to fix the landing gear issues on that plane, but finally I've got it right... Wheels are seriously broken (bugged) in KSP right now, but it is possible to get it right if you tweak it alot.

 

Also, the center of gravity is important, so you might want to try shifting them forwards or backwards. Finally, try using bigger / heavier landing gears, each landing gear has a certain maximum load after which they will start sliding around the runway.

 

Edited by Chris_2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been using the snap to grid to get the wheel perfectly aligned in the front.  My current ssto craft is 48 tons on the runway and is very solid/doesn't bend.  I havnt tried a heavier wheel base because thats a lot of extra payload.  

Ive experimented with the spring strength and dampen strength and havnt made it work yet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Bdyer said:

I've been using the snap to grid to get the wheel perfectly aligned in the front.  My current ssto craft is 48 tons on the runway and is very solid/doesn't bend.  I havnt tried a heavier wheel base because thats a lot of extra payload.  

Ive experimented with the spring strength and dampen strength and havnt made it work yet

You should be able to turn off angle snap while attaching them, but turn it back on to align them using the translation gadget.

Spring/damper probably won't help much. If they're in a position to be used, the launch is already a failure. I myself managed to get my latest design to take off reliably by switching from three wheels to four. Question for you: When during takeoff do the wheels give out? Immediately after firing the engines, or once you gain speed?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, SingABrightSong said:

You should be able to turn off angle snap while attaching them, but turn it back on to align them using the translation gadget.

Spring/damper probably won't help much. If they're in a position to be used, the launch is already a failure. I myself managed to get my latest design to take off reliably by switching from three wheels to four. Question for you: When during takeoff do the wheels give out? Immediately after firing the engines, or once you gain speed?

 

Once I gain speed 20-30 m/s. When I get close to take off speed ~50m/s and start to pull up (but havnt left the ground yet) everything evens out

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try setting a customized friction on the front wheel to .4 or below, and on the rear wheels to 1.3 or above. This creates dynamic stability -- low drag in front of the CoM, high drag behind the CoM.

You said you got the front wheel straight, but the rear wheels can sometimes also need straightening -- absolute rotation mode on the rotate gizmo in the editor can straighten them if need be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 01/11/2016 at 3:16 PM, Bdyer said:

I am using medium gears with 2 on the back and one on the front.  Once the ship is in the air it's rock stable.

Can someone suggest what to do with the wheels?

Make sure the rear wheels are as close to CoM as possible without it tipping over. Then it'll be rock solid on the runway, too.

GcfwKJU.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...