[Stock Helicopters & Turboprops] Non DLC Will Always Be More Fun!

[Redshift OTF]

Er quick question. Is there a new version of No Offset Limits for 1.1 yet? I was surprised how much I use it considering the old version doesn't work, (at least for me). Thanks.

[selfish_meme]

28 minutes ago, Redshift OTF said:

Er quick question. Is there a new version of No Offset Limits for 1.1 yet? I was surprised how much I use it considering the old version doesn't work, (at least for me). Thanks.

Its now included in EditorExtensionsRedux

[Rath]

Could you try to do a Rotary Engine?

Basically the cylinders rotate around a fixed crankshaft.

I know these would suck in KSP, need fuel mounted on the engine, need to switch craft to change throttle, have massive amounts of torque.  But they did most of these IRL too.

[Gman_builder]

3 hours ago, Rath said:

Could you try to do a Rotary Engine?

Basically the cylinders rotate around a fixed crankshaft.

I know these would suck in KSP, need fuel mounted on the engine, need to switch craft to change throttle, have massive amounts of torque.  But they did most of these IRL too.

The problem with wheeled bearings is that the shaft puts a lot of stress on the wheels because of the weight and the shaft moving at such high speeds. So having the frame essencially moving around the shaft would only introduce more weight and stress for the wheels and the design would likely be unstable or unusable. Wheelless bearings seem more promising but they currently yield much less horsepower than traditional turboshafts.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Gman_builder

[Azimech]

18 hours ago, Majorjim said:

I have an idea I will test on my next day off. Could be great!

I'm very interested in your approach!

[Majorjim!]

2 minutes ago, Azimech said:

I'm very interested in your approach!

It most likely will not work but it will be fun trying! I will try to post something tomorrow. 

[Azimech]

4 hours ago, Rath said:

Could you try to do a Rotary Engine?

Basically the cylinders rotate around a fixed crankshaft.

I know these would suck in KSP, need fuel mounted on the engine, need to switch craft to change throttle, have massive amounts of torque.  But they did most of these IRL too.

I dont feel much for a rotary engine, they complicate flight control (pitch is translated into yaw, yaw is translated into pitch) and piston engines are in their infancy. The only piston engines running in KSP are comparable with 1870, a rotary engine is 40 years more modern.

In the future I wish to build radial engines. I need to redesign one of them (it's 21 months old) and I need to get my ignition system running faster. But those developments will be posted in a different thread.

[Rath]

wait, didn't rotary engines come before radials...

 

How would a rotary engine complicate control?

Well, radials were sort of their contemporaries, but nobody uses rotaries anymore, while my dads volounteer fire brigade has a PBY

[Heckspress]

9 hours ago, Rath said:

my dads volounteer fire brigade has a PBY

jealous

[Gman_builder]

My second, better, turboshaft design is built into a smaller, 2.5 meter form factor for use in smaller and lighter planes. I have modified it a lot since my first release of this plane and it performs even better then ever! It makes about 60m/s in the stock aerodynamic model without adjusting the drag multiplier. It also works without KJR.(unlike my other turboshaft) 317 parts makes it easy on your computer and it has the same horsepower as my bigger plane. Download from KerbalX 

[Azimech]

17 minutes ago, Gman_builder said:

My second, better, turboshaft design is built into a smaller, 2.5 meter form factor for use in smaller and lighter planes. I have modified it a lot since my first release of this plane and it performs even better then ever! It makes about 60m/s in the stock aerodynamic model without adjusting the drag multiplier. It also works without KJR.(unlike my other turboshaft) 317 parts makes it easy on your computer and it has the same horsepower as my bigger plane. Download from KerbalX 

Cool! But please measure the speed with the drag slider to minimum, that way it's more in line with the performance during KSP 0.90. I want to promote this as a standard. And besides, I challenge everyone to beat my speed record ... which is not possible with the standard drag setting.

Let's face it ... we all like things going faster and higher ;-)

Edited May 6, 2016 by Azimech

[Gman_builder]

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 4:36 PM, Azimech said:

Cool! But please measure the speed with the drag slider to minimum, that way it's more in line with the performance during KSP 0.90. I want to promote this as a standard. And besides, I challenge everyone to beat my speed record ... which is not possible with the standard drag setting.

Let's face it ... we all like things going faster and higher ;-)

I did some tests and she makes 82 m/s sea level at 30 Rads with the drag multiplier set to zero and 150 degrees pitch on the blades. I'm not breaking any records but it performs well. There's an issue I haven't been able to solve where the stopper at the rear of my driveshaft will eventually explode and then I get too much friction between the wheels and the blades and it will slowly bleed off speed until it stalls.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Gman_builder

[Redshift OTF]

What do you think of my new micro prop engines? They use MajorJims thermometer hinge as bearings. They lack a bit of power, (mainly because the props I have fitted are more for looks than optimal performance), and the engines tend to fail as soon as you bank the craft due to uneven stress on the axle but they are the smallest engines I've made yet plus they only weigh 2.8 tons each. 70 parts.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Redshift OTF

[selfish_meme]

35 minutes ago, Redshift OTF said:

What do you think of my new micro prop engines? They use MajorJims thermometer hinge as bearings. They lack a bit of power, (mainly because the props I have fitted are more for looks than optimal performance), and the engines tend to fail as soon as you bank the craft due to uneven stress on the axle but they are the smallest engines I've made yet plus they only weigh 2.8 tons each. 70 parts.

I made a small bearing that was quite solid by putting thermometers around a mk0 tank, inside a structural fuselage, you needed about 3 rows of 6 thermometers to keep it from slipping and it occasionally caught but it could handles quite a lot of torque, You could even clip gears through the structural fuselage to the mk0 tank, but then it became a bit wider.

[Gman_builder]

4 hours ago, selfish_meme said:

I made a small bearing that was quite solid by putting thermometers around a mk0 tank, inside a structural fuselage, you needed about 3 rows of 6 thermometers to keep it from slipping and it occasionally caught but it could handles quite a lot of torque, You could even clip gears through the structural fuselage to the mk0 tank, but then it became a bit wider.

Sicc dood. What exactly do the thermometers do and how are they integrated into the bearing? Im brand new to thermometer bearings. I am impressed with how small you got it though and i suggest setting an action group to deploy the control surfaces in the prop so you can adjust the pitch and find the optimal setting.

[selfish_meme]

24 minutes ago, Gman_builder said:

Sicc dood. What exactly do the thermometers do and how are they integrated into the bearing? Im brand new to thermometer bearings. I am impressed with how small you got it though and i suggest setting an action group to deploy the control surfaces in the prop so you can adjust the pitch and find the optimal setting.

You are talking to the wrong man I think, thermometers and the antennae are two of the smallest parts to have collider meshes, so they can be used as a hinge or bearing, but they are not the same as wheels, when they reach a limit they will clip through each other and that limit is fairly low, compared to bearing made with wheels.

[Gman_builder]

1 minute ago, selfish_meme said:

You are talking to the wrong man I think, thermometers and the antennae are two of the smallest parts to have collider meshes, so they can be used as a hinge or bearing, but they are not the same as wheels, when they reach a limit they will clip through each other and that limit is fairly low, compared to bearing made with wheels.

Sry, i thought i quoted Redshift lol. Ill ask him.

5 hours ago, Redshift OTF said:

What do you think of my new micro prop engines? They use MajorJims thermometer hinge as bearings. They lack a bit of power, (mainly because the props I have fitted are more for looks than optimal performance), and the engines tend to fail as soon as you bank the craft due to uneven stress on the axle but they are the smallest engines I've made yet plus they only weigh 2.8 tons each. 70 parts.

Sicc dood. What exactly do the thermometers do and how are they integrated into the bearing? Im brand new to thermometer bearings. I am impressed with how small you got it though and i suggest setting an action group to deploy the control surfaces in the prop so you can adjust the pitch and find the optimal setting.

[Majorjim!]

4 hours ago, Gman_builder said:

Sry, i thought i quoted Redshift lol. Ill ask him.

Sicc dood. What exactly do the thermometers do and how are they integrated into the bearing? Im brand new to thermometer bearings. I am impressed with how small you got it though and i suggest setting an action group to deploy the control surfaces in the prop so you can adjust the pitch and find the optimal setting.

Hi there. I created the thermo hinge and the new version using the antennas. I used the thermo parts to create a cage for another part to spin inside or to spin around a part. The shape is very important for smooth operation. Have a look at the release thread for my newest version of the hinge here:

It is the smallest possible hinge in KSP.

[Redshift OTF]

14 hours ago, Gman_builder said:

Sry, i thought i quoted Redshift lol. Ill ask him.

Sicc dood. What exactly do the thermometers do and how are they integrated into the bearing? Im brand new to thermometer bearings. I am impressed with how small you got it though and i suggest setting an action group to deploy the control surfaces in the prop so you can adjust the pitch and find the optimal setting.

Have a look at the thread Major Jim quoted as he invented it. Here's my explanation though:

The left cubic strut is attached to the control ring in this picture. The right cubic strut is connected to the left strut but I used the infinite offset mod to move the strut away from the first and create a gap. The thermometers are attached radially to the left and right struts and moved together to form a tube that looks like an 8 sided star from the end. The middle cubic strut is connected to the blue decoupler and then offset in the gap between the left and right cubic strut. Finally an antenna is placed on both ends of the middle cubic strut. When you load the craft and press space to release the decoupler the centre strut is detached from the craft but doesn't fall off as the antennas are held between the thermometers. Now it is a free rotating bearing! Hope that makes sense.

I've had a bit of luck making the engines stronger by clipping 2 antenna on each end of the axle and moving them about a bit. It seems the bearing is completely friction free which is useful.

[Gman_builder]

20 hours ago, Redshift OTF said:

Have a look at the thread Major Jim quoted as he invented it. Here's my explanation though:

The left cubic strut is attached to the control ring in this picture. The right cubic strut is connected to the left strut but I used the infinite offset mod to move the strut away from the first and create a gap. The thermometers are attached radially to the left and right struts and moved together to form a tube that looks like an 8 sided star from the end. The middle cubic strut is connected to the blue decoupler and then offset in the gap between the left and right cubic strut. Finally an antenna is placed on both ends of the middle cubic strut. When you load the craft and press space to release the decoupler the centre strut is detached from the craft but doesn't fall off as the antennas are held between the thermometers. Now it is a free rotating bearing! Hope that makes sense.

I've had a bit of luck making the engines stronger by clipping 2 antenna on each end of the axle and moving them about a bit. It seems the bearing is completely friction free which is useful.

I kind of understand. Ill do some testing and try to make excrements happen. EDIT. NOT EXCREMENTS that just sounds weird.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Gman_builder

[Azimech]

Wonderful stuff gentlemen! I'd like to reply in depth to all of this but at this moment I'm working like a maniac on my piston engines mod. There's an update in the stickied topic.

[Redshift OTF]

So I made the engines a little stronger but I am at the limit of what can be made with thermo hinges alone. They don't seem to be strong enough for helicopters and with props they tend to pull the axle forward which makes things likely to fail. Possibly they could be combined with wheels to make them stronger? That is something I could try.

On the plus side you can make great small cogs out of them!

Edited May 13, 2016 by Redshift OTF

[Gman_builder]

ALLOW ME TO FILL YOUR FACES WITH A SICK IDEA.    Imagine this, multiplayer KSP, and Turboshaft air races.  NOW you might be thinking "Meh kinda cool" BUT THERES MORE.    Since everyone makes their own turboshaft and they all perform differently based on speed and altitude, it would be a challenge of skill and engineering. The best designed airplane wins.     I know DarkMultiplayer already exists but I think theres more to it than that because you have to change physics setting to keep a constant Drag setting between all players, which I don't know if you can do in DM. Essentially the same as real air races (Look up Reno Gold race on youtube) in the sense that everyone's plane is specially engineered and designed from (almost) the ground up and there are little to no rules and regulations regarding the airplane itself. More of a test to showcase everyone's different designs and have fun at the same time. Everyone would probably need a ridiculous computer but I'm sure there's a way to bypass the part physics from multiple craft like in DM and just have your computer render your own.  Just a idea but I think we could take it somewhere.

[Redshift OTF]

Heh, interesting idea but my plane could barely get off the ground, let alone dogfight. Plus I don't think enough people have the patience to build these sort of craft to have a competition.

[Gman_builder]

Not dogfight, i mean racing. And thats why its a challenge of skill and engineering. Currently azimech holds the speed record but im working hard and am over half of his speed now. Just try hard and youll eventually get there. Once everyone has viable designs we could like create mock Reno Gold Races (Note Reno Unlimited Class Gold Races never have more than 7 planes and the real race is usually between the three up front. It's not like Nascar with 50 cars on the track.) and see who comes out on top. Speed and maneuverability is key.   BTW id love to do some testibg on your bearing if youd put them up for download somehwere 

Edited May 14, 2016 by Gman_builder