Possible ingame fix? Pistons

[Teamw0rk]

So had a truck with piston arms and drills on the end.
worked amazingly, but when the drills were wobbled it caused the pistons to cause phantom force on the truck.
The arms were there to reduce the crazyness which it did except for the retraction of the pistons. As the drills got heavy they would bend the pistons
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2602824617
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2602824671
I feel like im close to figuring out a stable way to avoid crazy collisions,
Maybe i need to attach shields to the head of each piston that covers the extended piston part.?
unsure, im assuming adding that thin armor will cause more clang.

[frag2k4]

You could always put small merge blocks at the extended positions, if you put a conveyor junction between the piston head and next piston and then a merge block on that, when the piston extends it locks in place fusing the new sub grid to the main grid and improving stability.

You rest block is a good idea however the hit boxes can still get a little funky when things are moving.

[Teamw0rk]

Originally posted by frag2k4:

You could always put small merge blocks at the extended positions, if you put a conveyor junction between the piston head and next piston and then a merge block on that, when the piston extends it locks in place fusing the new sub grid to the main grid and improving stability.

You rest block is a good idea however the hit boxes can still get a little funky when things are moving.

oh yea, we have small merge blocks now. not sure how that will help with retraction, but that does give me an idea for another mechanisim that might avoid the issue.

[frag2k4]

Well having one set of the merge blocks in a group say those on the pistons, maybe a timer set to turn them off and begin retraction at the same time. Then put the timing block on trigger now.

If worked well you might even be able to merge when retracted to provide stability. But this is all naturally subject to your overall design.

[DragoF1sh]

you can prevent wobble with inertia tensors, but small pistons dont have that. Instead, you need to edit the setting at the very bottom of the piston and increase that value (i forgot what the setting is actually called).

By increasing that value, it has more resistance to bending, just make sure that it doesnt force itself too much when pushing things.

[Mojo]

Originally posted by DragoF1sh:

you can prevent wobble with inertia tensors

It all depends, I have had Inertia tensor enabled and doing that caused wobble. It is just Lord Clang and what mood he is in. :)

[Teamw0rk]

Inertia tensor for me never seems to do anything unless my craft is moving.
I think its for locking down pistons and rotors for when you're moving fast.

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, you may be able to find a solution with piston on the side but it may need to be different, well if not working = we must redo different.

-> I would delete blocks around the pistons.
-> change the piston position, try aligned with center of mass.
-> use less pistons.
-> reinforce the piston arm, pendulum like/robotic arm, crane like, add blocks on the piston head(s) + rotor + piston on the rotor head extending from the top the hold the drill mass ...
-> test different till it works ...


I can tell you the best stable concepts are when the pistons are in center and going down, not horizontal but vertical pistons aligned with the center of mass of the main grid/car.

A lot use rotor to raise the arm and extend the piston going down to Drill, it's the best concept to mine ores on planets since we have to drill down.

+
Much better on large block Rovers, I mean large block mining Rover concepts are way more stable than small blocks.

[Teamw0rk]

Originally posted by Dan2D3D:

...

I can tell you the best stable concepts are when the pistons are in center and going down, not horizontal but vertical pistons aligned with the center of mass of the main grid/car.

A lot use rotor to raise the arm and extend the piston going down to Drill, it's the best concept to mine ores on planets since we have to drill down.

+
Much better on large block Rovers, I mean large block mining Rover concepts are way more stable than small blocks.

Okay i think i know what you mean.
I'll give an experiment with a folding arm that rests the retracted pistons along the body, but raises the back end of the pistons above, to hand the piston arm.

The images show the arm sort one piston and the two drills, since they exploded.

The bigger issue is, as the pistons retract the piston head gets caught on nearby block edges.
IF i could come how have the support arm extend WITH the pistons that would solve the KLANG reaction to the retracting pistons.

I'll give the raised arms dropping pistons design a go.

Originally posted by Dan2D3D:

...
-> reinforce the piston arm, pendulum like/robotic arm, crane like, add blocks on the piston head(s) + rotor + piston on the rotor head extending from the top the hold the drill mass ...
...

Errrrr... I..
Okay so this is what i got in my head from that.
An over head support arm on rotors and pistons support the horizontal are from overhead?
OR
a vertical arm with a rotor up top (like a pendulum "left/right") with pistons hanging down and a drill at the end.?

That seems over complex and more pistons will just clang the entire thing.

BUT! That gives me an idea involving a pully of hinges supporting the arm from the back mid of the small truck but i feel like adding vertical stuff AND hinges will cause weight issues,
I do have a chain truck on small grid already built now. and although slow, its quite effective.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2603509528