totm june 2019 Breaking ground - Test Zone

[RealKerbal3x]

A work-in-progress, but it already looks really cool!

Yes, that's a giant claw hanging from the underside of a dirigible

[sturmhauke]

Rock and roll intensifies

[klond]

On 6/4/2019 at 8:14 AM, Brikoleur said:

way of making circular/closed/looping structures?

 For old chains I had each link as a separate craft and the final link just looped inside the first.

 So now I size up my chain, pull part of it away, put the strut between the first and last, then move it back into position.  As long as I don't use Control-Z the strut stays and works.  Note: the chain is it's own craft.  Bonus: strut is hidden.

Edited June 8, 2019 by klond

[Triop]

The Blender, it has a large rotor inside.

[Shadow dream]

18 hours ago, klond said:

 So now I size up my chain, pull part of it away, put the strut between the first and last, then move it back into position.  As long as I don't use Control-Z the strut stays and works.

I have tried "realistic wheels" with an adapter (1.25 to 0.6 I think) on rotors. The result was devestatingly bad since the craft slipped as if on ice, also any hard enough slope change made them blow up.

How do your chains work out? Do they stay reliably on maneuvers and how safe are they from exploding on slope edges? Or are they 'optics only'? (I notice a wheel back there)

[sgt_flyer]

Tested out G00 hinge vs M06 rotation servo

Same configuration for each (50kn motor strenght) (the hinge and the servo are surface attached on the structural plate, and a long I-Beam + a 0.625 fuel tank surface attached to the rotating part of the servo / hinge.
 

Both were capable of rotating the i-beams and fuel tank.

the one in the front is the servo, the one in the back is the hinge.

Results speaks for itself under normal kerbin gravity... on scene load, the G00 bent to up to 28° during my tests (inconsistent, varies on scene load) ! (number in the hinge itself) - the M06 only bent 0.03° -  on each try...

for 0.006 tons more, the M06 servo is really the superior choice here if you want stability (plus it has a far greater range).

 

note : when you surface attach the M06, it attaches from it's rotation point. (so the casing rotates)

 

[sgt_flyer]

1P2 hydraulic cylinders can help make some nice truss structure

 

(much better looking than using EAS-4 struts :p)

 

Edited June 9, 2019 by sgt_flyer

[klond]

11 hours ago, Shadow dream said:

How do your chains work out? Do they stay reliably on maneuvers and how safe are they from exploding on slope edges? Or are they 'optics only'? (I notice a wheel back there)

 The wheels are/were placeholders so I could work on one side as a time save.  I'm really trying to make them work for real.  The chain does have pretty nice grip and doesn't explode easily.  The chain/tracks stay in place if you have a good alignment solution - still working on that.

The runway hill was do-able.  It's definitely a WIP though; so many different problems to overcome.

 Getting power to the track is a complicated issue at the moment.  It needs to be slightly loose so it doesn't freak out on launch, but it needs to be tight enough to receive power from the end rotors .  If the rotors are kept smooth they don't transfer power well.  If I add jagged edges it helps, but the track gets wonky at higher speed.

Spoiler

 

 

 I tried spring-loading the idler wheels (powered pistons) which activate on startup to provide tension  It kinda worked, but the chain stretches a little and it fails at a lower speed when stretched.

Spoiler

 

 I snapped all the hinges in a straight line originally then used the Target Angle to curve them.  30 degrees repeated makes a perfect arc around the medium rotor.

Spoiler

 4m/s is all my craft will do.  Sounds slow, but it felt fast.  The chain was going crazy but the game handled it well.  A big problem personally is that hinges kill my cpu.  With both tracks installed I'm getting some really low frames when the vehicle is in motion (older Intel i5).  I kinda wanna blame the hinges.

 OMG the most fun part is setting yaw to the RPM of the motors so it turns like real life (slows or stops one track and speeds up the other).

 I urge anyone interested to try it.  It someone wants to make a slow crawler I think it would work GREAT.  If anyone starts a project I'd love to see pics or share ideas.

[Klapaucius]

29 minutes ago, klond said:

 4m/s is all my craft will do.  Sounds slow, but it felt fast. 

That's almost 9 mph (14.4 kph) which, according to Wikipedia, is more than twice as fast as a Mark II British tank from WWI.

[sgt_flyer]

Checking out how the (nearly) full truss looks (currently 508 parts...)

(at 0.01 g of course, the masts are not meant for 1g ^^)

Edited June 10, 2019 by sgt_flyer

[Klapaucius]

I'm currently working on a plane that has no control flaps. It is controlled entirely by bending the aircraft with hinges and servos and manually controlling them with multiple controllers. It flies, but the joints are weak. If one is not careful, it will fold over on itself.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Klapaucius

[Majorjim!]

20 hours ago, sgt_flyer said:

he one in the front is the servo, the one in the back is the hinge.

Yeah I'm using servos for my heavy stuff too. The hinges are hilariously weak.

10 hours ago, klond said:

 I urge anyone interested to try it. 

I would love to but my limited KSP time is taken up with other stuff.

[sgt_flyer]

18 hours ago, klond said:

 I urge anyone interested to try it.  It someone wants to make a slow crawler I think it would work GREAT.  If anyone starts a project I'd love to see pics or share ideas.

it's early POC :p but it ... works :p - still needs better sprocket and guide wheels though ^^ - still, at  ~4 Kph, it's in the unloaded CT speed range ^^

Tought, creating a full CT from that... it's going to melt computers ^^

this dual track alone is 103t / 284 parts :p (not counting any payload... rebuilt a shuttle stack from scratch for Breaking Ground, it's 310 parts / 475 tons fully loaded, without it's payload  ^^)

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by sgt_flyer

[Majorjim!]

3 minutes ago, sgt_flyer said:

it's early POC :p but it ... works :p - still needs better sprocket and guide wheels though ^^ - still, at  ~4 Kph, it's in the unloaded CT speed range ^^

Tought, creating a full CT from that... it's going to melt computers ^^

this dual track alone is 103t / 284 parts :p

What are those tracks? Are they the large crocodile hinge?
 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Majorjim!

[sgt_flyer]

10 minutes ago, Majorjim! said:

What are those tracks? Are they the large crocodile hinge?
 

yup - the G-32W hinge in it's glory ^^ each crocodile hinge half covers the next's one's half.

a single track itself is 43 parts and weights 17 tons...

the sprocket wheels are 3.75m parts...

Edited June 10, 2019 by sgt_flyer

[Hillnex]

I still dont have breaking ground dlc (im gona get it in a month) but i already have ideas even though i have no clue how any of robotics work.
my first test would be to try and make an automatic gun using small rockets and the motor and my 2nd idea is to make a slingshot of airplane using the hydraulics 

[klond]

13 minutes ago, Hillnex said:

I still dont have breaking ground dlc (im gona get it in a month) but i already have ideas even though i have no clue how any of robotics work.
my first test would be to try and make an automatic gun using small rockets and the motor and my 2nd idea is to make a slingshot of airplane using the hydraulics 

 Well welcome to the forums!  We're glad you're excited to build and I hope you share some pics with us.  The robotics stuff is new to us too and we're all here figuring it out together.

[Hillnex]

1 hour ago, klond said:

 Well welcome to the forums!  We're glad you're excited to build and I hope you share some pics with us.  The robotics stuff is new to us too and we're all here figuring it out together.

Thank you! i am quite excited for the new DLC i just hope it wasnt publish around this time of the year since i have tests, but i just cant stop thinking of ideas (which isnt good)

[Cannoneer_Mae]

After a couple days messing with rotors I've managed to make a 250m/s rotor prop plane! Uses 12 individual rotors with 4 propellers each. Offset the blades into the craft so they still touch when spinning despite centrifugal forces.

 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1768125481

[sgt_flyer]

nifty thing in 1.7.2 - we can now bind the control surfaces authority limiter in the KAL-1000  - it really allows to control the control surfaces with the KAL - simply set the control surface to 'deployed' mode, and add the authority limiter axis to the KAL-1000

could allow cool things for videos, etc simply bind to an action group decouple + start KAL-1000 on an attached plane, and it could follow on it's own a preprogrammed flight course (that, or even easily automate initial gravity turn on rockets...)

edit : we can also add the engines thrust limiter to the kal-1000 too

Edited June 13, 2019 by sgt_flyer

[sgt_flyer]

LOL

Just tested the 1.7.2 Thrust Limiter in KAL-1000s

the KAL can now even control SRB thrust limiter in flight ! (and really works ingame - the SRB can shut down before emptying it's fuel )

so it's feasible to create custom thrust curves for your SRBs

it would be like grain geometry ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-propellant_rocket

simply use AG1 or the staging AG to fire the KAL and the SRB at the same time ^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by sgt_flyer

[sturmhauke]

1 hour ago, sgt_flyer said:

the KAL can now even control SRB thrust limiter in flight ! (and really works ingame - the SRB can shut down before emptying it's fuel )

so it's feasible to create custom thrust curves for your SRBs

[Loskene]

Don't know if it's been brought up here yet but small pylons make excellent tyres. Very high crash tolerance and a grippy collider. This thing weighs 40 tons but it can climb mountains at 40m/s without slowing down or using the jets, which are largely aesthetic and cause more problems than they solve, and it has to fall at least its own height before the suspension gives up and you lose a couple parts. I'm amazed by the performance of the first working thing I've built with the DLC.

 

[woeller]

Breaking Groun SpaceX Legs

 

[Klapaucius]

I built a Frog.