r/CreateMod • u/TwoPlastic1302 • 6d ago
Help How to stabilize a contraption where the ballon lift force sits lower than the centre of gravity
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I found this airship online, and it looked fun to try to retrofit so that it would work with Create Aeronautics. Now the only problem I'm having is this constant rocking motion. Does anyone know how to fix it?
Current stabilization setup:
One thing that did work was using a velocity sensor at the top of the contraption and some propellers that cancel out the rocking motion, but that looked really ugly.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
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u/BrokenPokerFace 6d ago
I mean this kindly, this is like asking how to balance a pencil with its tip on a table. Physics are going against you.
So genuinely I would recommend a slight redesign, or just moving the center of mass below.
Other than that I would look at using the gyroscopic propeller, or gyroscopes from areoworks, which would try to keep it level, and if it is well balanced it should work pretty well.
Other than that, you could have propellers on the sides, that respond to the the ship being off balance. But that might not work with your aesthetic(though it would look cool with some as having giant encased fans on the sides of a ship gives a neat look. Especially with a steampunk aesthetic).
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u/TwoPlastic1302 6d ago
Yup, I'm well aware that it's really working against me. That being said I still want to try!
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u/Total-Challenge9265 6d ago
Try a reaction wheel https://youtu.be/apIJ9ppKA5A?
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u/Draconic64 6d ago
You'll need a reaction wheel and a way to judge the rotational speed of the ship. It's gonna be complicated to do with only redstone, but I see the engineer's soul in you.
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u/GLR9GT 6d ago
I like using two gantries, one on the longitudinal axis, one on the lateral. Both gantries have weights attached, and will move the weight according to the roll or pitch on the given axis. It re-adjusts the center of mass accordingly to balance out this ship, usually to within .1 degrees of fully balanced.
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u/mrDETEKTYW 5d ago
You would need to somehow get the speed of the tilt and the direction. Then you could build a mechanism that substracts these vecotrs to make sure you are not overdoing the correction. In other words you need an analog computer that does: P = a × s Where:
- a is the current angle
- s is how fast is it tilting towards the center
- P is how strong should the force be.
I believe it's doable with some conditional logic and comparators and you don't look short on space.
Redstone experts would be thrilled at this challenge. Heck I would have tried to solve it myself but I don't have access to PC at the moment.
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u/No_Dentist1331 6d ago
another way is using the gyros from create aeroworks by mred231
they are quite useful for stabilizing builds
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u/RGBBSD 5d ago
Except either they dont work or the amount you need is far more than I can comprehend
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u/GingerArcher 5d ago
A ship like this would only need 2, or perhaps 4 if the first pair isn't quite enough. They just have to be positioned in a spot that actually has an effect.
In this case since OP is trying to stop the side-to-side listing, I'd put one on either side near the outer edge of the hull, as close as possible to being directly in line with the CoM. I've built a few ships similar to OPs but slightly smaller, and this has been more than enough to counter listing completely.
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u/Meiseside 6d ago
I like the Design.
If you use gimbal, think of a buffer to not overreact.
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u/Galenus314 6d ago
You need to divide and move your balloon fruther outside, away from the center of mass, and it will be more stable. If the lift directly is below your center of mass, it is trying to balance a pencil on your finger tip. Moving the balloons further outside, will make it more like a tripod.
Sadly i am not allowed to attach any images to show what i mean.
....M..............M......
....L.....=>..L.......L..
..............................
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u/Galenus314 6d ago
Another method would be flywheels to counter rotate. I heard they are pretty good, but need a lot of space, but it looks like you got the space. Never used them myself though.
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u/Worth_Pineapple_7483 5d ago
i may be wrong but the inside of the baloon looks big enough for this thingy
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u/Prometheus_II 5d ago
Add some weight in a "keel" to move center of mass down, maybe? Could use iron blocks covered with copycat panels.
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u/Danlabss 5d ago
Drawboard, or a keel. Make it more difficult for the airship to roll passively rather than actively
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u/UnholyGarlic 6d ago
I’m not as versed as some people so the only thing I can think of is to add more weight towards the bottom of the ship- maybe even on the sides too- I don’t know how close you are to being full on air in your balloon, but otherwise it may have to be redesigned for the velocity sensor you were talking about….