Engines that swivel?

[chd]

Has anyone tried making a ship that uses the Breaking Ground robotic parts -- rotary servos in particular -- to mount engines that swivel? I should just try a couple, I know, and I'll do some testing, but just wondering if they are strong enough and can feed fuel. I'm assuming the stock fuel lines are not flexible once placed.

The long-term goal is to make an asteroid catcher where the engines are at the back, but once I grab the rock I can rotate the engines 180* to make it into a puller configuration...

[Superfluous J]

I've not made them swivel, but I did put them on telescoping arms and they worked fine. It was quite a while ago so I don't recall the details, but the biggest issue was keeping them from flexing under thrust. Auto-struts don't cross robotic parts no matter what you tell them to do

[Spricigo]

1 hour ago, Superfluous J said:

Auto-struts don't cross robotic parts no matter what you tell them to do

Not tried it myself but maybe that would do the trick(assuming mods are an option):

 

[king of nowhere]

my rover has 4 terrier engines attached on G-01L alligator hinges that it can point downwards to fly. two of them are further mounter on G-00 hinges that can turn them backwards, to help push the rover on steep slopes. I also made an add-on to land on tylo that has 4 additional terriers on 1P4 telescopic pistons.

so, yes, they work, though there is some shaking. i can get away with it because the terrier is a fairly low powered engine. i certainly could not do it with a vector or mainsail.

[Wobbly Av8r]

Yes, @chd, I've mounted Terrier engines to swivels at the end of telescoping poles, connected to alligator hinges (not on a dare, but so that the package was streamlined for launch through the atmosphere and then telescoped to maximize their torque for the exact same application - steering an asteroid!)

Recommendations: Don't use Autostrut on ANY robotic part - or Rigid - they fail sporadically and unpredictably. For this installation the 60 kN per engine does not seem to tax the components at all. I had no problems with either the Lf/Ox engine or the RCS system fuel feed.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Wobbly Av8r

[Grogs]

This is one I put together a couple of days ago. The rover has two Wolfhound engines mounted on rotary swivels. Takeoff is in the horizontal position with the engines pointing down.

 

Then rotate the engines back and point the nose upwards for a regular rocket ascent.

 

It seems to work OK. There are some minor instabilities I haven't worked out yet, but I'm not sure if they're due to having the engines on swivels or just the design of the body.

[Guest]

Yes. They work quite well, especially now that the mirror symmetry bug is fixed.

[HansAcker]

15 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

Auto-struts don't cross robotic parts no matter what you tell them to do

They do (maybe that's a new feature) - if the robotic part is "locked". The lock can be toggled by KAL, too, e.g. at the end of the programmed move. The problem with the lock is that they sometimes don't want to engage because the part is still in micro-motion.

Edited September 9, 2020 by HansAcker