piston wobble whilst drilling

[gingerfox]

im using pistons and drills to horizontally dig out a hanger into a hill. i have not pushed the speed above 0.5m/s and inertia tensor on and there are 25 pistons, the pistons require minimum 3MN impulse axis and non axis to move due to the volume of drills - 20+ wide x 10 high(large grid). However i am still getting large horizontal and vertical movement/wobble.

Does anyone know how i can reduce this or is it just an unavoidable problem with large numbers of blocks on the end of a large number of pistons

[Shaila]

Think of pistons as a spring, the longer it gets the bouncyer it gets, there is a settjng that you can hit called "share inerta tenishner" but i think you have to turn on exparimntal mode for it to show, and it doesn't stop it complrtly, just a little

[frag2k4]

You might try some gyros set to override, my mining ship will wobble when the drills are running but the gyros can stop most of this if told to remain fixed to a position. Likely you will have to put them on each pistons and the drill setup.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Originally posted by gingerfox:

im using pistons and drills to horizontally dig out a hanger into a hill. i have not pushed the speed above 0.5m/s and inertia tensor on and there are 25 pistons, the pistons require minimum 3MN impulse axis and non axis to move due to the volume of drills - 20+ wide x 10 high(large grid). However i am still getting large horizontal and vertical movement/wobble.

Does anyone know how i can reduce this or is it just an unavoidable problem with large numbers of blocks on the end of a large number of pistons

I could never get pistons to work well horizontally with a drill on the end. I, too, like to punch hangars and facilities into the sides of mountains (or asteroids or whatever). I found that building a tunneling ship was the best and cleanest way to get the job done. Consider something like my Skipjack Tunnel Master to punch in your hangar; it will clear a space large enough for a 9-wide by 5-high tunnel, and making several passes side-by-side will create as wide a tunnel as you could ever want. That's what I do, and when I'm done I just dismantle it for parts. (I'm not hyping my design, but rather just trying to give you some alternatives to what you're trying to do.)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2011770114

[Dan2D3D]

Hi. it's too big so you will have to "redo / change" find the working/stable concept, cause abviously not working this way.

We have to deal with the planet Gravity over there and huge drills like that need more Engineer testing to find the solution, if there is cause I never made one that big on planet so I don't know that "Working stable concept".

__

Indeed, adding Gyros would be New conception to test next.

+ Make it smaller if nothing works, well if you can't find the stable solution that big.

[Phatboy45]

Hi, If nothing else works and you REALLY need to make a HUGE tunnel / underground area, I would just use the Nanobot Drill and Fill™ system. I've used this when I was designing the underground portion of my lunar base, it really got the job done.

[Karmaterrorᵁᴷ]

I think spiffs got the right idea, appart from that you could try to include some guide wheels and rails. Its a way moe complicated option, but it can work to keep it stable.

Friends have just used landing gears as things for the piston stack to brace on, just never hit P unless you wish to sacrifice your creation to Clang :D

[Phatboy45]

Hi Karma,
Are you talking about building an inchworm drill?🤔 I've seen those on some S.E. Youtube videos. You have to get the timing right on when the front end attaches and the rear retracts, otherwise you've just built a massive Klang bomb. 😁🙏

[Karmaterrorᵁᴷ]

Had a look on google to see what an inchworm drill was, but got a bit confused lol

I just mean some way to brace them so they cant wiggle, this is the landing gear one. Its the more simple just watch out with locking the gears, make sure auto lock is off. Have to keep building it though, with spiffs theres less messing around :)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2408878268

Edit I see what u mean now with inchworm, something that contacts and expands... That would be super cool, "klang bomb" would be the perfect name lol

[Spaceman Spiff]

I built Skipjack because I got tired of trying to mine a straight line and figured there had to be a better way. My original version had atmospheric thrusters which doesn't work at all in space, obviously, so I switched over to hydrogen thrusters to allow universal use. The use of suspensions wasn't my idea, but someone else who used the tunneler; it sure makes a big difference for how smoothly it runs now.

I'll typically cut a tunnel into my base (which I usually build inside a cavern made by half a dozen or so aligned warhead voids), then some side tunnels for ship parking. It's more fun that squishin' tadpoles! I only wish we could get KSH to make some bigger airtight hangar doors, but that's a separate issue.