How do you use the grappler or is it for show?

[Merlin]

How do you use the grappler or is it for show?

are there any beefy robotic arms or servos to use in mods?

[sal_vager]

Hi Merlin, arm the grappler (right click) and touch it against an asteroid

[tsotha]

Or a another ship. You can transfer fuel through it as if it were a docking port.

[capi3101]

Or a Kerbal. Why? I dunno...might make for a really cheap rescue ship option or some such. You wouldn't get full money for it if you did.

Grappler will grab anything - it's useful when you want to dock with something that you ordinarily can't dock to.

[The_Rocketeer]

Or a building.

With enough SAS, you can spider-man it up a wall ;-)

[capi3101]

Or a building.

With enough SAS, you can spider-man it up a wall ;-)

That would be awesome...has anybody actually done that? (Videos or pics...)

[Reactordrone]

Or a another ship. You can transfer fuel through it as if it were a docking port.

You can even transfer crew through them.

[Steambirds]

How to use THE KLAW:

Step 1: Arm that sucker. It's never gonna grab a thing if it isn't ready!

Step 2: Get close to whatever object you wish to grab, be it plucky intern, spacecraft, asteroid, the ground, your sack lunch for later in the day, etc.

Step 3: Gently get closer to your intern/spacecraft/asteroid/ground/sandwich until the klaw's mystical powers activate and it attaches to your favorite object.

Step 4: Now that you have your object in your clutches, feel free to do whatever you want with it. Maybe that intern will learn a thing once he experiences re-entry firsthand.

Step 5 (ASTEROIDS ONLY!!): Once you have grabbed your favorite/most attractive asteroid, right click it and select "Target Center of Mass". Oh, you can also re-name it. Maybe you can name it George and love it and hug him and pet him.

Step 6 (ASTEROIDS ONLY!!): Right click on THE KLAW and select "free pivot". This allows you to rotate your spacecraft (mostly) independently from your asteroid. Rotate your spaceship until the heading marker and the target marker are aligned.

Step 7 (ASTEROIDS ONLY!!): Right click THE KLAW again, and select "lock pivot". You may have to free the pivot again and rotate again, as it can take a few tries to get the heading marker and the target marker aligned as close as possible.

Step 8 (ASTEROIDS ONLY!!): By now, your heading and your target marker should be in-line, which means that if you thrust, your new pet asteroid named George will not spiral madly out of control. Feel free to do whatever you'd like with it now.

[Superfluous J]

Or a Kerbal. Why? I dunno...might make for a really cheap rescue ship option or some such. You wouldn't get full money for it if you did.

If I could have figured out a way to get him off of Tylo with the on-site ships, that's exactly how I would have brought a guy home in my most recent Jool shenanigans.

[Pecan]

... are there any beefy robotic arms or servos to use in mods?

Almost the only mod that provides servos, hinges and other moving parts is Infernal Robotics

[Merlin]

Thanks for all your help will share what I build Thanks again

[Red Iron Crown]

Or a building.

With enough SAS, you can spider-man it up a wall ;-)

Does that actually work? I know the claw won't grab the surface of planets/moons but I've never tried it with a building.

[a10t2]

If you have two rovers, with a Klaw on each, you can move station modules around without having to worry about shearing off docking ports.

[biohazard15]

Or you can use the Klaw in a

fashion.

[Wanderfound]

Now that I've started using Kerbal Construction Time, I have reason to park and refuel planes instead of scrapping and rebuilding them. So I made a Klaw-based refuelling truck; just drive up to the plane, hook on and pump away. Ditto for refilling the truck from a tank.

Much easier than fiddling about with KAS fuel hoses.

[The_Rocketeer]

are there any beefy robotic arms or servos to use in mods?

Yes.

Check out Romfarer's Robotic Arms Pack.

Description:

"This pack contains two replicas of real life robotic arms used space. The CanadArm2 from the ISS and the Buran manipulator from the shuttle with the same name. The arms comes with a camera attached to the tip of the arm. This interface is also the one you will use to move the arm around. In order to grab other vessels both arms are equipped by a magnet. Whenever you grab something both vessels will automatically dock with eachother. This is necessary in order to be able to save and load properly. The arms are also warp capable, with and without load. Keep in mind that the arms can not handle excessive loads within a gravity field. Accelleration is also not reccommended. And finally, the arm will produce force according to newtonian laws, if you experience too much wobble, use the slow speed setting. This can be activated with the CAPSLOCK key."

Does that actually work? I know the claw won't grab the surface of planets/moons but I've never tried it with a building.

Honestly, I was just cracking wise. Give it a try!

[KerikBalm]

Step 7 (ASTEROIDS ONLY!!): Right click THE KLAW again, and select "lock pivot". You may have to free the pivot again and rotate again, as it can take a few tries to get the heading marker and the target marker aligned as close as possible.

Step 8 (ASTEROIDS ONLY!!): By now, your heading and your target marker should be in-line, which means that if you thrust, your new pet asteroid named George will not spiral madly out of control. Feel free to do whatever you'd like with it now.

Huh? I haven't tried without asteroids... but I'd think the lock and free pivot would work with anything its attached to... can someone confirm?

[Superfluous J]

Huh? I haven't tried without asteroids... but I'd think the lock and free pivot would work with anything its attached to... can someone confirm?

Yeah it works. I made a (really bad) claw-based crane where the whole idea was to have the pivot locked on all claws and then unlock one, move what it's grabbing to where it should be, then relock it, then unlock another,move, etc.

It was super clunky and not worth the effort, but it worked.

[Agost]

Now that I've started using Kerbal Construction Time, I have reason to park and refuel planes instead of scrapping and rebuilding them. So I made a Klaw-based refuelling truck; just drive up to the plane, hook on and pump away. Ditto for refilling the truck from a tank.

Wait, how do you manage to "park" planes without leaving kerbals inside?

[Wanderfound]

Wait, how do you manage to "park" planes without leaving kerbals inside?

Go EVA, recover Kerbal. Don't park too close to the runway.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Agost]

Go EVA, recover Kerbal. Don't park too close to the runway.

So you actually take off and land on the ground instead of on the runway? How do you get kerbals back inside when you need to use that vessel?

[Mitchz95]

So you actually take off and land on the ground instead of on the runway?

You land on the runway and taxi deeper into the space center.

How do you get kerbals back inside when you need to use that vessel?

You build them a car.

[Agost]

You build them a car.

And then you leave it there? This looks doable only with KSP Interstellar, since you can refine fuel. Without it you only would spend more funds imho...

[Red Iron Crown]

And then you leave it there? This looks doable only with KSP Interstellar, since you can refine fuel. Without it you only would spend more funds imho...

You make a tanker truck with a claw attachment. Drive to plane, claw, refuel. Drive back to runway and recover for 100% minus fuel transferred to plane. You can also use the truck to spawn the kerbals for the plane, just add a probe core to drive back.

[Melfice]

And then you leave it there? This looks doable only with KSP Interstellar, since you can refine fuel. Without it you only would spend more funds imho...

Also possible with Kethane/Karbonite. Actually, probably more viable with that than Interstellar.