How the hell do you place a small drill

[[A2M] Lenny]

Im trying to place a small drill on a small ship. Nothing works. I highlight a small armor block before choosing the drill, and its large. I highlight a small block while selecting the drill from my hotbar, nothing. I just can't seem to figure it the hell oout, and I cant find anything in the documentation on the wiki to point the way. Any help appreciated.

[Nitro]

do you have the correct parts to place it?

[[A2M] Lenny]

Yes, I have all of the components to build it in my inventory. I just can't get the small variant of the drill to pop up. Instead I get the gigantic drill that is way too big for my ship.

[ScruffyBamboo]

It seems you're not pointing at the right place.

The block will be attached to the surface your cursor is on. If it's pointing at the station platform (the cross cursor), it'll try to build a large drill. If you point at a block on the small ship, it should switch to the small drill.

Keep in mind that the "small" drill is pretty big, and you won't get a "green box" if you're standing where the drill would be. I can be a bit tricky to find the right spot.

Unless there's a strange bug going on, but I've never had a problem placing drills.

[Bot1]

you need more then 1 small block to place a drill because the small drill is pritty large compared to the small block?

[ScruffyBamboo]

Originally posted by Emptyspace:

you need more then 1 small block to place a drill because the small drill is pritty large compared to the small block?

No, I've been able to place a small drill on a single conveyor, on the back port.

[[A2M] Lenny]

The small ship that I have is anchored to my station platform via the landing gear anchors that the "Lone Survivor" platform comes with. Could that be causing it? But if it did, why would I be able to place small Light Armor blocks but not small drill blocks? I'm pretty sure it's trying to place the large drill as my ship is 8x10 light armor blocks on the surface im trying to place the drill on and it takes up most of the that surface with just one or two drills.

[Bot1]

Originally posted by ScruffyBamboo:

Originally posted by Emptyspace:

you need more then 1 small block to place a drill because the small drill is pritty large compared to the small block?

No, I've been able to place a small drill on a single conveyor, on the back port.

just opend the game to test it and i was about to delte my comment ;) you are fast

[ScruffyBamboo]

Originally posted by A2M Lenny:

The small ship that I have is anchored to my station platform via the landing gear anchors that the "Lone Survivor" platform comes with. Could that be causing it? But if it did, why would I be able to place small Light Armor blocks but not small drill blocks? I'm pretty sure it's trying to place the large drill as my ship is 8x10 light armor blocks on the surface im trying to place the drill on and it takes up most of the that surface with just one or two drills.

Ah, there you go... those large landing gears pre-built on the Lone Survivor platform are actually for large ships. If you just started building onto those, that would explain it - you're building a large ship!

If you want to start a small ship, hit "g", and select "new small ship" on the right. It'll allow you to place a new landing gear, and you can build from there.

At least, I think that's the problem, from your description ;)

[Voice From Beyond]

A small drill is 3x3. I had problems getting it to stick in the right place on small blocks unless I have a 3x3 small block pad. It wouldn't line up right even on a 3x3 doughnut (center block removed for hatch access). I had to make the 3x3 block, attach the drill/welder/grinder and then remove the center block.

[Thjof]

I had some trouble placing small drills, too. But I think I finally figured it out. One small block is enough to attach the 3x3 drill, if

1.) you are standing far away enough, as mentioned above
2.) the block is an armor block, a conveyor tube or a conveyor (this list isn't complete most likely, but blocks like a small gyroscope don't seem to work, neither do large blocks like a cockpit)
3.) you are attaching to one of the 3 (small) conveyor ports of the drill (took quite some time to find out this one)
4.) there's enough space to actually place the drill

[tkraftson]

I also had trouble until I had a small block and put a conveyor tube on top of it. Then it connected with the proper orientation. It is finicky but it can be done.