Reinforce an in-line joint on convex parts against pulling stress

[Sharpy]

My "Claymore" has a critical flaw.

That tip where it grips the asteroid. There's MK3 to 2.5m adapter, then 2.5 to 1.25 adapter, and the Klaw.

And when running at full power at 4x warp, the connection between the MK3-2.5 and 2.5-1.25 adapters fails. It's the weakest point - the Klaw is very strong, and MK3 connections were vastly improved in 1.0.4, but that one is still weak and carries the whole stress of the asteroid against 4000kN of force.

Additionally, the MK3 to 2.5m adapter is convex so trying to pull a strut from the other one ends up with the strut ending short of the joint. So, any smart methods how to do it?

(and I know the easiest answer is "don't use 4x phys warp", but I'd prefer something faster - last time I captured a Class E and brought it into LKO, it took me a week.)

[sal_vager]

How about this?

[LostOblivion]

Does that even work? Last time I checked, engines pointed at other parts of your ship (the asteroid) provide no thrust.

[Captain Sierra]

Does that even work? Last time I checked, engines pointed at other parts of your ship (the asteroid) provide no thrust.

KSP only checks out to a certain distance. If your engines are far enough away, it does in fact work.

[Sharpy]

KER says 1.28m/s^2 of acceleration.

@Sal Vager: Seems possible though I'm not sure what's the Hardpoint's attachment strength.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Sharpy

[Deddly]

Sal's suggestion is excellent. Please report back with your results. The same trick works with the mighty all-purpose Cubic Octagonal Strut (praise be its name) but the hardpoint Sal suggests is much better looking.

[Skorpychan]

How about this?

The answer is always 'struts'. Or perhaps 'struts and attachment points'.

[Sharpy]

Sal's suggestion is excellent. Please report back with your results. The same trick works with the mighty all-purpose Cubic Octagonal Strut (praise be its name) but the hardpoint Sal suggests is much better looking.

Cubic octagonal strut's attachment is actually quite weak. Remember we're talking about a force that literally rips the craft apart, and not by bending or shearing but by pure pulling!

[Deddly]

Thou shallt not disrespect the Cubic Octagonal Strut

[sal_vager]

It's not pretty though, you have to admit that, which is why I went for the hardpoints.

Also I find the cubic struts are Kraken bait, so I use other parts such as empty Oscar-B tanks where I used to use cubic struts now.

[ajburges]

If you don't mind clipping, you can mount the struts directly between parts. Just put the camera in the ship in the SPH. It has the added benefit of needing no symmetry, so you keep the part count down.

[mpk10]

Regardless of what you use for extra structural support, I think that the 4x warp under acceleration is part of the problem. I have noticed that certain parts fail in tension under warp while accelerating that otherwise wouldn't without warping. I know it's annoying moving asteroids without warp, but if you can be patient, you'll find things will fail less often.

-mpk

[pincushionman]

Pull your far part away with the translation tool. Attach your struts from your close part to the far part. Translate it back. The strut will clip through the parts between.

That's how I strut between wing sections, which otherwise doesn't work very well.

[Deddly]

I don't suppose you've tried turning the motors around and making it a pusher instead of a puller?

[xtoro]

You could also try Kerbal Joint Reinforcement. It'll prevent you from having to add more parts...

[Sharpy]

I don't suppose you've tried turning the motors around and making it a pusher instead of a puller?

BAD idea.

It works well with nukes or other weak thrust engines on a very short arm relative to the surface, where rigidity of the Klaw can overcome the twisting force. In this case it's twenty seconds from burn start until breaking the joint and sending the asteroid spinning.

[Deddly]

Well, that sounds much more fun! But I suppose that would probably not be conducive to getting your asteroid home...

I guess I just don't have experience using those enormous engines in space - I go for the conservative minimalist builds. So did Sal's suggestion work for you?

[Sharpy]

I think I'll go with Pincushionman's or Ajburges' ones. Still need to get to it. Installing the struts will be a minute of work. Getting the craft from VAB to docked to the asteroid - probably more than an hour.