If it bends, it won't break. Large rover wheel placement.

[csanders]

So I was doing some experimenting with struts and such, to make my mobile kethane mining rig more robust. Disappointingly, a lot of strut placement didn't increase strength as much as it increased brittleness. Surprisingly, I discovered this very elastic design that holds up very well under stress.

EDIT- The lesson: Sometimes struts will transfer forces to weak parts, and actually cause breaking. Sometimes, just let things flop around.

Coming in at "high" speed (10m/s) for suspension testing

Bam!

Oh my...

Almost there

Break on through to the other side - with some help of a robotic arm.

How it was done: Two separate girder segments were placed on the fuel tank side, one pointing up, the other down.

EDIT: The top girder segment does nothing. The wheels are attached to the lower one, and the top one does not add any strength

Attached wheel to the lower one, at the highest point the mouse would allow.

Further testing is needed to see how well this works on low gravity bodies.

Edited September 29, 2013 by csanders

[AmpsterMan]

While I love your science on this matter, out only makes me wish there was a suspension value to the different landing legs/ rover wheels.

[DChurchill]

That's only going to attach to one of those girders, isn't it? Isn't it one parent per child?

[csanders]

That's only going to attach to one of those girders, isn't it? Isn't it one parent per child?

Good point. The top one is probably just for looks. I thought maybe at least it would provide some support through collision modeling, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[DChurchill]

What happens when you remove one?

[csanders]

I removed them, and it performs the same, as far as I can tell.

[csanders]

Low gravity testing is complete, and it still works very well.

A little downward and forward thrust does wonders in low grav environments

Yeeeee Haaaa

Mission Control: "Bob, telemetry is getting some strange readings. You aren't by chance going well over twice maximum speed are you?"

Abort! Abort! Abort!

Mission Control: "Bob, you know how we joked that we only sent you to change tires? We weren't joking."

KBM industries is in full effect

[magnemoe]

Love your jumbo sized probe drill

I once had an scary experience with an portal crane on Minmus. It was using 6 of the large wheels and the large grinders. Capable of lifting an 18 ton tank on kerbin using kas.

Got it to Minmus, landed it however pretty soon it jumped up in the air and was destroyed on the landing next time I loaded the area.

I guess it was too lightweight for all the large wheels so loading physic made the shock absorbers push it up.

[NoMrBond]

Would a couple of docking ports done body|][|wheel give you a bit more flex rather than structural elements?

Not sure if you'd need the snr's for strength or if regular clamp-o-trons would hold up that kind of mass

[Apophis775]

What mode are you using to mine?

[KvickFlygarn87]

Apophis: That would be Kethane.

[csanders]

What mode are you using to mine?

Kethane mod for the drill, robotic arms pack (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/robotic-arms-pack/) for the arm.

[Alistone]

While toying with a larger rover that could "rock" by adjusting it's weight forward or backwards I discovered that the larger wheels seem to perform much better on terrain if the middle ones are set slightly lower. They carry more of the weight and allow wheels on the front/back to handle bumps better / break less often.