sirkut Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Any chance on getting a folding piston part? I don't know what the thing is called, but there's a hydraulic lifter thingy you see at construction sites that has cross-hatch support beams that life the thing up much higher than twice the original height.Find an image/video and I will see if it's possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gristle Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Any chance on getting a folding piston part? I don't know what the thing is called, but there's a hydraulic lifter thingy you see at construction sites that has cross-hatch support beams that life the thing up much higher than twice the original height.This is called a scissor lift. You can make one with pistons and loose hinge from TT's Multiwheels, or Sirkut's free spinning docking washer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirkut Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Wait a sec. Something like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert VDS Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 You could make a segment of the scissor lift, that might be the easiest solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gristle Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Or make one like this that I threw together quickly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrandom Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Scissor lift! That's it exactly! I ask because it would be easier to pack in rovers or other small EVA vehicles and extend them out. The current pistons were too long for me, even fully-retracted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirkut Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 I'm going to have to think about this idea. It may be possible but may require the use of multiple parts in order for this to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armokh Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Scissor lift would be awesome addition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gristle Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Two tiers now working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirkut Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Took me just a few seconds to whip this idea up. Of course you could get away with just doing 1/2 of a scissor lift as the second pair doesn't connect to the plate with the command seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gristle Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Took me just a few seconds to whip this idea up. Of course you could get away with just doing 1/2 of a scissor lift as the second pair doesn't connect to the plate with the command seat.That's Cheating!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZodiusInfuser Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I'm going to have to think about this idea. It may be possible but may require the use of multiple parts in order for this to work.Perhaps a simpler thought would be to make a set of pistons that fit below the surface they are place upon (similar to how the ladders work), and extend out from it.This would allow a piston to take up less space, but also for them to be stacked to travel further, much like how a mobile crane's arm can fold down for transport and extend to 5 times its normal length (or more) when required: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_crane.To avoid having the pistons look odd when stacked, different sizes could be made with the same reach, allowing them to fit inside each other without looking horrible. Heres a concept I quickly mocked up:These pistons all have the same reach, but a reducing radii to match the inner size of the previous one.To me this seems a lot simpler (as it's just a variation of current parts), than designing a scissor lift mechanism that may or may not require animations in order to look right.Something to think about maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeckoOBac Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Also may I add an easy addition? A "closed" (as in, hinge rotated 90°) version of the tall hinges. As some parts seem to only connect in a stack, the folded tall hinge would allow to make compact setups without having to fold them pre launch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gristle Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Perhaps a simpler thought would be to make a set of pistons that fit below the surface they are place upon (similar to how the ladders work), and extend out from it.This would allow a piston to take up less space, but also for them to be stacked to travel further, much like how a mobile crane's arm can fold down for transport and extend to 5 times its normal length (or more) when required: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_crane.To avoid having the pistons look odd when stacked, different sizes could be made with the same reach, allowing them to fit inside each other without looking horrible. Heres a concept I quickly mocked up:These pistons all have the same reach, but a reducing radii to match the inner size of the previous one.To me this seems a lot simpler (as it's just a variation of current parts), than designing a scissor lift mechanism that may or may not require animations in order to look right.Something to think about maybe?This is brilliant!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahulath Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Hi, it seems topical, I have just posted an elevator that uses this dll (license and credit given and that of course) - it's not a scissor lift but it'll get your kerbs up and down pretty good and packs away real tidy - I may have missed the point... The vid above is a personnel lift right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirkut Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Hi, it seems topical, I have just posted an elevator that uses this dll (license and credit given and that of course) - it's not a scissor lift but it'll get your kerbs up and down pretty good and packs away real tidy - I may have missed the point... The vid above is a personnel lift right?Vieo above was just a proof of concept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piloter Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I'm still having the same issue that I was having with Damned Robotics--moveable surfaces attached to anything that moves, don't themselves move. (YES, I'm still trying to refine my flying, driving, floating hydrofoil.)Easy example: Stick a winglet on the end of a piston or on a power hinge. Controls say they're moving, but the surface itself won't and it kind of screws up anything with gimballed thrust as well, such as the B9 F117 engines. This seems independent of version of mod (happened with DR and the modded DLLs for .20/.21 as well) or whether or not FAR is installed.Am I missing something obvious? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddot99 Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I'm going to have to think about this idea. It may be possible but may require the use of multiple parts in order for this to work.Isn't this a job for the MSI Animator you were working on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirkut Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 (edited) Perhaps a simpler thought would be to make a set of pistons that fit below the surface they are place upon (similar to how the ladders work), and extend out from it.This would allow a piston to take up less space, but also for them to be stacked to travel further, much like how a mobile crane's arm can fold down for transport and extend to 5 times its normal length (or more) when required: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_crane.To avoid having the pistons look odd when stacked, different sizes could be made with the same reach, allowing them to fit inside each other without looking horrible. Heres a concept I quickly mocked up:These pistons all have the same reach, but a reducing radii to match the inner size of the previous one.To me this seems a lot simpler (as it's just a variation of current parts), than designing a scissor lift mechanism that may or may not require animations in order to look right.Something to think about maybe?I can make a compressed piston no problem! I can't do multiples because the plugin only allows one mesh to be fixed and the other to move. It can't handle more than one at the moment.Ill make a fully compressed version. Any size requests? Edited August 18, 2013 by sirkut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gristle Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I can make a compresses piston no problem! I can't do multiples because the plugin only allows one mesh to be fixed and the other to move. It can't handle more than one at the moment.Ill make a fully compressed version. Any size requests?Why would this be any different than stacking multiple pistons? You'd just had to allow part clipping on the pistons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZodiusInfuser Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 (edited) I can make a compresses piston no problem! I can't do multiples because the plugin only allows one mesh to be fixed and the other to move. It can't handle more than one at the moment.Great! I thought that was the case (only 2 meshes allowed). I tried to show this in the images, whereby the yellow models would be your fixed meshes, and the grey being the movable one. Since the compresses pistons fit inside other parts, the example I showed would be made of 4 seperate parts stacked on top of each other.Ill make a fully compressed version. Any size requests?It depends how extended you wanted to go. The minimum I'd say is the three usual sizes, but to get any extended reach you'd need to also make a set of smaller radii versions with the same reach (so not just a uniform scale). In my example, that piston would be four different parts of the large size, all with a reach of 4 units.Maybe make the largest one fit well with the rotating bearing idea I previously suggested Edit: Why would this be any different than stacking multiple pistons? You'd just had to allow part clipping on the pistons.Exactly my thinking Edited August 18, 2013 by ZodiusInfuser Responding to Gristle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gristle Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 The stacked / clipped pistons actually worked correctly in the game for some reason when I used progressively smaller parts. Didn't work exactly right when I tried stacking pistons of the same size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirkut Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 Hi, it seems topical, I have just posted an elevator that uses this dll (license and credit given and that of course) - it's not a scissor lift but it'll get your kerbs up and down pretty good and packs away real tidy - I may have missed the point... The vid above is a personnel lift right?I'm not sure why his thread only has one response but his elevator is awesome! For those interested I used a speed of 200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toyotawolf Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I'm not sure why his thread only has one response but his elevator is awesome! For those interested I used a speed of 200. Ae you trying to launch kerbals without a rocket again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirkut Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 Ae you trying to launch kerbals without a rocket again....It was begging for it. Only downside is the cage is packed up. If it wasn't I would have set that sucker at a 45 degree angle, put side cage on it and just see how far I could throw a kerbal. What great fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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