[1.9.*, 1.10.*, 1.11.*] DockRotate - lightweight robotics - rotational control on docking ports (plus NodeRotate, make any part rotate)

[peteletroll]

Looks like the NodeRotate/physicsless part problem is solved. Expect release soon™.

This is what the testing machine looks like:

[peteletroll]

New release! NodeRotate improvements: it works when attached to physicsless parts too.

And a new motor part by @Psycho_zs.

Edited November 16, 2018 by peteletroll

[Psycho_zs]

Just to be clear, now a physicsless part attached to a motorized node will become physical (and only it), is that correct?

[peteletroll]

58 minutes ago, Psycho_zs said:

is that correct?

Yes. A physicsless part attached to the rotating node of a NodeRotate part will be automatically converted to full physics.

[Vegetal]

Holy crap this is all awesome. Nice job you guys!

[_Rade]

Really nice and useful mod.

I've tried using the BF-35 Size 0 Step Motor to build propeller powered airplane, and while it worked there where few issues with the motors.

First issue is that the maximum rotation speed supported by the game is 50rad/s, while this part allows you to set the rotation speed to 3600deg/s which is ~62.83rad/s. From my experience in building the stock propeller engines I know that any time you have parts spinning faster than 49.8rad/s and close to 50rad/s you'll have various issues. Usually parts will wobble around or just break down.

I would suggest to reduce the maximum rotation speed to at least 2850deg/s (49.74rad/s) or maybe even to 2835deg/s (49.48rad/s) just to be on the safe side.

Second issue is that these engines give out allot torque for some reason. This makes it really hard to build airplanes with a single engine. I was able to overcome this problem by using 2 of these engines and the contra-rotating propellers.

My test airplane

 

Had to reduce the max speed to 2850deg/s otherwise the parts attached to the step motors would wobble around and then break down.

I was able to reach max. speed of 230m/s using these engines. Similar plane using the stock propellers can go about 215m/s.

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU]

40 minutes ago, _Rade said:

Really nice and useful mod.

I've tried using the BF-35 Size 0 Step Motor to build propeller powered airplane, and while it worked there where few issues with the motors.

First issue is that the maximum rotation speed supported by the game is 50rad/s, while this part allows you to set the rotation speed to 3600deg/s which is ~62.83rad/s. From my experience in building the stock propeller engines I know that any time you have parts spinning faster than 49.8rad/s and close to 50rad/s you'll have various issues. Usually parts will wobble around or just break down.

I would suggest to reduce the maximum rotation speed to at least 2850deg/s (49.74rad/s) or maybe even to 2835deg/s (49.48rad/s) just to be on the safe side.

Second issue is that these engines give out allot torque for some reason. This makes it really hard to build airplanes with a single engine. I was able to overcome this problem by using 2 of these engines and the contra-rotating propellers.

My test airplane

 

Had to reduce the max speed to 2850deg/s otherwise the parts attached to the step motors would wobble around and then break down.

I was able to reach max. speed of 230m/s using these engines. Similar plane using the stock propellers can go about 215m/s.

Aye, I noticed that myself, the amount of torque generated is a lot higher than seems absurd for the weight being rotated and the thrust generated

[peteletroll]

@_Rade, thanks for the top speed recommendation, I'll fix it in next version.

[peteletroll]

@_Rade and @BRAAAP_STUTUTU, could you please post a picture of your propeller rotating with F12 aerodynamics overlay activated? That's probably where the "excess" torque comes from.

Edited November 18, 2018 by peteletroll

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU]

2 hours ago, peteletroll said:

@_Rade and @BRAAAP_STUTUTU, could you please post a picture of your propeller rotating with F12 aerodynamics overlay activated? That's probably where the "excess" torque comes from.

 

oh and ehh https://streamable.com/ckr6d

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by BRAAAP_STUTUTU

[_Rade]

2 hours ago, peteletroll said:

@_Rade and @BRAAAP_STUTUTU, could you please post a picture of your propeller rotating with F12 aerodynamics overlay activated? That's probably where the "excess" torque comes from.

You're probably right about that, for a stationary plane each propeller blade provides about 10kN of lift and also little more than 10kN of drag which is converted to torque on the plane. So if you have a 3 bladed propeller it's like having a large reaction wheel trying to spin the plane in opposite direction.

However as the plane accelerates the lift from the blades increases while the drag drops close to the 0.

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU]

one weirding thing im having is that my contraprops are somehow creating torque in the same direction instead of nullifying eachother even though they are spinning in the opposite direction...

err @_Rade how did you get that contraprop to perform as intended?

[_Rade]

Here's how I have it set up. The front motor is attached to the battery, the rear one is attached to the NCS adapter.

Also both motors are on the same action group so they start to spin at the same time when you activate them.

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU]

15 minutes ago, _Rade said:

Here's how I have it set up. The front motor is attached to the battery, the rear one is attached to the NCS adapter.

Also both motors are on the same action group so they start to spin at the same time when you activate them.

definitely stable now, but going any faster than this seems impossible

[_Rade]

Try to minimize the drag and mass of the plane as much as possible, that should help with the increasing speed. Also it should be safe to increase the rotation speed to 2850deg/sec.

The plane I'm using is just a version of my VB 10 propeller plane with stock propeller engines removed and replaced with step motors.

Edited November 18, 2018 by _Rade

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU]

now I just need to find out how to control the pitch so I can actually control the rate of ascent

err

ooofff, 57m/s ascent speed, das fast

Edited November 18, 2018 by BRAAAP_STUTUTU

[Vegetal]

1 hour ago, BRAAAP_STUTUTU said:

 

now I just need to find out how to control the pitch so I can actually control the rate of ascent

err

ooofff, 57m/s ascent speed, das fast

You know, you could use a tiny fuel tank with a small fuel cell instead of those endless banks of batteries =P

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU]

33 minutes ago, Vegetal said:

You know, you could use a tiny fuel tank with a small fuel cell instead of those endless banks of batteries =P

cant recharge the fuel cell tho

[BlinAndVodka238]

Just a suggestion, Maybe add larger motors? i wanna make landing legs and stuff, and i don't know how to use Inferno Robotics (the motors just stuck there, checked the groups and the actions, but it seems like it's blocked by something and starts wobbling) or maybe make it compatible with tweak scale, thank you.

[peteletroll]

New release!

The rotation step can go down to 0.5° now, for variable AoA propellers.

And some fixes here and there.

[G_Creature]

I've got a lot of trouble dealing with the joints breaking or going out of alignment the moment they touch anything. For example, the moment this crane touches the box it goes all crooked and stays this way. What can I do to fix it?

https://streamable.com/7wi7g 

[peteletroll]

@G_Creature, could you please send me the craft file?

By the way, cool job!

[G_Creature]

44 minutes ago, peteletroll said:

@G_Creature, could you please send me the craft file?

By the way, cool job!

Yes, but it will require you to use some extra parts as I'm using Ubio Zur's welding tool.

Here is an archive with both structural parts and a .craft file.

The structural parts go into ...\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\UbioWeldingLtd\Parts\Structural\... on my end.

I also forgot to include the battery file, it goes into Electrical.

The controls are:

Quote

 

1: Extend the arm

2: Retract the arm

3: Arm/Disarm the claw

4: Decouple the container and the gantry 

 

You can move the decoupled gantry with W and S. Move it gently as it picks speed up very quickly and don't hold the brakes down when you grab the container or it will spaz out.

EDIT №1: Here are a couple more videos with the same concept: 

https://streamable.com/f83br

https://streamable.com/go9dd

These seem to work just fine and don't get dislocated like the crane, but the moment they start pushing against something heavy they either get crooked or break altogether. If you know of any way to make the joints a little more durable, please let me know.

EDIT №2: Here is another thing I made using your mod, no issues with this particular concept so far: 

https://streamable.com/gh3v3

https://streamable.com/2n1fg

Edited November 28, 2018 by G_Creature

[G_Creature]

@peteletroll Any updates?

[peteletroll]

3 hours ago, G_Creature said:

Any updates?

Still having trouble loading your craft: missing a part called Gantry-Crane. But I didn't have time to take a deep look yet...