Extremely strong joints in stock game - how to!

[Origim]

Hello all,

I am using the interstellar mod (don't worry, the solution is stock compatible), so between all the reactors, I started to have massively heavy ships that needed lifting to orbit. My latest is a 230 ton outpost that I wanted to lift all at once. One problem however... how does one stick a 230 ton orbital stage on top of a single 2.5 rockomax decoupler without it crushing into pieces?

The solution? The gray 4x4 pad between every 2.5 m joint, reinforced with struts! I theorized that because the part has 80 m/s crash tolerance, it must have insanely strong joints. I seem to have been right.

The conclusion - 230 ton payload loaded and held reliably, on top of a single rockomax decoupler, sandwiched between gray plates interconnected with struts. No joint reinforcement mods, no quantum struts, just an arrangement of gray pads and struts!

Below is a close up image of the reinforcement (yes that is a lot of struts, but lighter rockets will only need the pad)

Don't worry about the huge fairings. That's another trick for another time (I encase my entire 16 way asparagus setup in fairings for unprecedented aerodynamics with the FAR mod). I decoupled them to show the loaded upper stage.

Loaded ship:

Closeup:

Edit - Liftoff! For those curious what the fairings look like

Edited March 30, 2014 by Origim

[MKI]

So more struts? Thats simple, the 4x4 part is the interesting part.

Do you know if either of the I beam units work similarly? This is all more or less not important since the new update 23.5 will be changing part connection dynamics. So for the sake of your CP, you wont have to use as many struts

[SRV Ron]

This all stock 200+ tons to orbit on one Rocomax decoupler. Without a set of braces, it will break during flight. But, do add other braces to stabilize the load to the booster. Install them for greatest engineering effect, triangles give the greatest strength and prevent twisting forces, not just slap on braces.

[Origim]

Haha, I did hear that the joints will be better in the next update. However, that just means heavier payloads with this trick! And in response to the other poster -- I was demonstrating per-joint performance increase. I could've used the boosters for my strut mounting points, but instead I was trying to establish what could be done with a single 2.5 m radius structure. Minimalist designs (of which mine isn't) might benefit from this trick.

[SRV Ron]

Haha, I did hear that the joints will be better in the next update. However, that just means heavier payloads with this trick! And in response to the other poster -- I was demonstrating per-joint performance increase. I could've used the boosters for my strut mounting points, but instead I was trying to establish what could be done with a single 2.5 m radius structure. Minimalist designs (of which mine isn't) might benefit from this trick.

The designer of this lifter was having broken coupler problems in flight. I traced it down to the failure occurring during the gravity turn on the payload stage. It took a set of cubic struts with braces to fix the problem.

Better joints would certainly solve a lot of problems with large rockets falling apart before launch.

[Giggleplex777]

The larger Sunshine lifters use a simple but effective trick to strengthen the radial connections on the tanks.

All you have to do is attach trusses to the tank and then attach the other tank on the truss.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/63050-0-23-MUNSHINE-LIFTERS-5-165-tons-to-orbit-including-low-tech-Career-Mode-versions%21