Parts' fuse strength and fuse weakpoints ?

[Mapoko]

Hello,

I am using 3.5m docking ports and the craft and another exact copy are planned to dock with the core of my big rig.

But before I launch my craft I decided to test where my parts will break.

This is because the big rig is designed to slowly move around with the help of Quad nuke engine clusters + high trust engines when I need acceleration.

Thus making me test if it will not fall apart under acceleration.

The ports attachment is strong enough, so this is not a problem, but seems that the attachment to the part attached to it is not, which is odd.

You can see in front there is mk3 cockpit and 3.5 to mk3 adapter. They also deattach and the cabin drops down simply by it's weigth. It splits either between cabin and adapter or adapter and greenhouse. Different every launch.

This is not even finished craft, but a simple part with some fuel tank for counterbalance and show the issue. When it is balanced the problem with the cabin occurs.

So, is there a way to reinforce the link between the 3.5m dock and 3.5m part and mk3 and mk3 (that should have strong wielding anyway?) or why are my kerbineers so bad at wielding ?

Edited March 31, 2015 by Mapoko
Answered

[Aser]

Moar struts?

There's a mod called Kerbal Joint Reinforcement. I haven't used it, but have seen it recommended.

IME, decouplers, SAS modules, and size adapters end up being pretty bendy. Disabling SAS on the upper sections of your rocket can help. I usually just take the easy way out and slap a pile of struts to it.

[Mapoko]

Struts may not be a viable option for 2 reasons :

1. I need to keep my part count to a minimum and those increases count.

2. How to even add struts between the docking port you see and the part attached to it ?

I also heard of KJR, but also did read that sometimes it "releases the kranken" and causes your ship to split apart on load, so I am reluctant of using it. Unless it is the only way.

[Captain H@dock]

2. How to even add struts between the docking port you see and the part attached to it ?

FWIW I've easily managed to place struts on the outer circle of a senior docking port*, though the other end of the strut wasn't attached to a same diameter part (I haven't tried that, so it may or may not work). But this would really be space-taping adjacent parts together, which I would be reluctant too (part count matters set aside) as this shouldn't be needed. Adjacent parts should be welded already...

* Something like this but with girders instead of adapter cones, and with the struts on the docking ports themselves.

[smjjames]

I also heard of KJR, but also did read that sometimes it "releases the kranken" and causes your ship to split apart on load, so I am reluctant of using it. Unless it is the only way.

I use it and I've never had that problem. In fact, a ship of mine that stayed intact with KJR collapsed on itself on load WITHOUT KJR.

Maybe you're thinking of an older version?

[magnemoe]

You should be able to connect the two struts to the docking port and not to the MK3 adapter on top of it, you might have to draw from ship to docking port.

Another option is to use KAS struts who can be added by an kerbal doing eva, this allows you to add struts to docked parts, this does wonders for stability.

[TheXRuler]

I also heard of KJR, but also did read that sometimes it "releases the kranken" and causes your ship to split apart on load, so I am reluctant of using it. Unless it is the only way.

I can strongly reccomend getting KJR for two reasons. It strengthens ALL connections between all parts and it slowly turns up physics when loading a vessel or coming off rails.

About the kraken, this can be a problem (although only for very few people) but if you do have difficulties you simply delete the KJR folder and everything is back to normal. I musw admit I started using KJR with some trepidation (I even made a backup of my save file) as I had heard similar reports but I started really getting used to it. Then I had trouble because I was building a really huge 700 ton space station and after docking the last part KJR did no longer want to deal with my crap so it started wobbling the station apart. All I did was remove the KJR folder and everything was back to normal.

[Mapoko]

Yes, I have KAS and KIS installed, as well as TACLS, so I am planning to basically play with my rig with population of 18-20 kerbals, move stuff around etc and basically give it life. So there will be few KAS struts once docked.

[WuphonsReach]

Struts may not be a viable option for 2 reasons :

1. I need to keep my part count to a minimum and those increases count.

2. How to even add struts between the docking port you see and the part attached to it ?

I also heard of KJR, but also did read that sometimes it "releases the kranken" and causes your ship to split apart on load, so I am reluctant of using it. Unless it is the only way.

#1 Use KJR current release, I've been using it since about Jan 30th (I grabbed the dev version of the current release around 2 months ago). No kraken issues.

#2 UbioZur Welding Continued mod can help reduce part count a bit. There's an art to learning what you can and cannot weld and what mods do not play nicely with welding. My station cores are a single piece with food/H2O/O2 storage, waste product storage, RCS and liquid fuel storage, reaction wheels, a hitchhiker module, batteries, and half a dozen radial connection points (either 125cm or 250cm) for attaching docking ports.

[Mapoko]

KJR fixed it. It is just laughable how 5m and 3.75 parts are wielded with seemingly the same strength per pixel as 1.75 and 0.675 , while the tonnage increases in increments with huge difference.

[mpk10]

Why not use three small Jr docking ports instead of one big one?

[superm18]

if you insist on not using KJR, you can do like this

Javascript is disabled. View full album

p.s. this also works with fuel lines

[Mapoko]

Thank you ! Please change the tag to Answered!

[superm18]

Fallow this link to change the tag.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/85063-How-to-change-Unanswered-to-Answered