How do you reinforce your engine on tank ?

[gilflo]

HI

Sometimes engines are moving dangerously beneath their own tank.

I tried to put some struts between engine and tank to reinforce the whole structure but it seems really difficult to fix.

Does it really worth ? Can we really do it ?

[Kolt]

If what's moving is the nozzle of the engine, then that means that Gimbal on the engine is on. Now, if the WHOLE engine is moving, it's hard to say. I've never really seen that happen if I understand what you mean. The other thing that could be going on (you're gonna have to tell me) is that the whole stack is wobbly. In that case you could decelerate or, as you said, use some struts to try to stabilize the stack.

[gilflo]

Yes sometimes, even when the whole stack is not wobbly, it seems that the engine base is not aligned with the tank.

But I can't see any mean to add a strut on the engine base and then fix the other end on the tank

[Jason Patterson]

If you've added struts between the engine and tank, it won't break off barring a fairly solid collision.

Are your engines actually breaking off, or are you just worried that they're going to? It's really really rare that an engine falls off unless the rocket is resting on it at launch or it plays the part of landing gear when you come back down.

[Dunbaratu]

How do you strut between engine and fuel tank? They're both in-line and no bits stick out to attach to.

[Jason Patterson]

Try it, it works just fine. Put one end of the strut on the fuel tank near the bottom, other end on the engine.

[Vanamonde]

A picture of your ship would help.

[rkman]

How do you strut between engine and fuel tank? They're both in-line and no bits stick out to attach to.

It can be tricky but it's possible. If it fails try again with the first attachment point (on the tank) moved to the side a bit.

[Nao]

One neat way I've found to strut two fuel tanks or a tank-engine stack is to:

Firstly put something thin (like I beam) between engine and tank, strut them (bottom of the tank to top of the engine) and remove the I beam - this way the struts will remain inside, invisible, and will never get into way of any other parts.

It's possible to do this without the I beam, just by moving the camera inside the parts. If you zoom in and put it in down-top view you can "enter" the engine, so it disappears and you have a clear view on the bottom of the fuel tank. Then you place the struts on it (i usually use three) and rotate the camera to top-down view so you see the top of the engine (or other fuel tank when strutting two tanks) and just place struts on it.

[TMS]

^

Nice idea. I strut all joints so would appreciate a more aesthetically pleasing method.

[Joe_Bender]

I never strut my engines. I do strut the tuna can fuel tank to the orange tank to keep it from moving around though....four straps works for me.

[Dunbaratu]

I found out in another thread that although the engine cannot be the first endpoint placed for a strut (the "from" point) it can be the second endpoint placed for a strut (the "to" point). Not knowing this was the primary reason I was having a problem. I tried clicking the engine first and when that didn't work what I thought was "I guess the game disallows that, so what else can I try other than struts?" rather than "yes it does allow it but not exactly this way, try building in a different order."