[Question] How to connect more than one piston to the same Object

Hello,

Due to the fragile pistons i tried to connect more than one pistons on one Object:

[ ] [O] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [ ]
[ ] [O] [ ]

Side view:

[1]|======||||||
[1] [2] [2]
[1]|======||||||

[ ] = Blocks
[O] = Piston on Block
[1] = Object i want to push
[2] = my Station

But it don't work. I can connect one piston, but if i try than to connect the other one, while it's absolutley built paralell to the other one i can't build/connect it with the Blocks.

Anyone any idea?

 

Again i've not tried the latest patch, but have you tried the rotor work around, cutting and pasting back?

 

When merge blocks were released, it allowed people to merge rotors together. However ... given the pistons haven't been patched up (very fragile), the merge blocks might snap them right in half. x.x

 

The objects attached to the end of the piston are on a different grid, like rotors. You will need to use merge blocks to get it joined together.

 

So i have to place that Merge Blocks on Top of the Pistons between Piston & Object or betweent he pistons itself?

A little screenshot would be epic!

 

I tried doing the merge blocks method last night, and whilst it works, the pistons are INCREDIBLY fragile. they break as soon as you get the merge blocks connected. I was using a cockpit and a single engine to move the blocks to be connected, but I was trying to be very gentle with the movement. even drifting at less than 1m/s, the merge blocks merged, but then the attached part of the piston fell off.

 

hmkay ... so we have to wait for the fix.

Okay thank you!

Anyway: Can anyone show me how to connect them? So i can use it when it's fixed? A simple screenshot would be the best way i think. Thanks!

 

Use merge blocks

 

you dont even need merge blocks for that last one ops:

 

put piston then rotor then piston etc and maybe gyro

 

Doing it will be a merge block thing for sure, the issue being that currently piston heads are so fragile that doing so causes them to snap off instantly. Hopefully we'll get a hotfix that will make them more robust.

 

I was having the same problems trying to get pistons working remotely happily together, though I'd only been trying to use one merge block on the load side. After seeing Spets's example, I tried merging both piston base and head sides together, with much better results. I'm sure they're still fragile as all get-out right now, but so far, the heads have stayed on, the door they're attached to works, and life is good. I should note that I also made sure that there was no excess movement going on before the merge blocks did their thing.

 

Ive been trying to do the same thing for descending hangar floors, and every time at least one piston head snaps off, I hope somebody is working on a fix soon

 

I am currently using a fairly good work around for my construction yard. I use landing gears to move around a pad between 2 pistons. this allows me to move a ship linearly for 8 blocks. This is enough for my purpose. if u wish to extend furthur, you could use something similar to what goes on with minecraft pistons. ONe pushes, another pulls, and the one sideways piston to star over again.
Thus a block moves forward 4, swaps to the others landing gear, forward 4 more. then pushed sideways one block into another piston group. repeat as required.

 

Thank you very much Spets, now i understand

 

I've had issues with the hard merge block snap myself, and there is actually a fairly simple way around it. Do what you would normally do to get the units connected, but turn the merge blocks off first. Both sets. Move things into place so that they are aligned properly. Then power on the merge blocks. The snap is very minor, usually no damage at all (unless you did not have things lined up correctly).

I've also been known to use the magnetic attraction on connectors to get things lined up, then kick on the merge blocks. Much less kick on that method as well.

Maybe some day we'll get the option to adjust the merge block connecting force. Until then you just have to be sneaky to get around the issue.

 

I've tried a similar thing, extend a piston with a length of blocks and a merge block facing upwards, extend the second piston with a merge block facing downwards (with various combinations of blocks and gaps etc). The result for me is that when the two merge blocks are activated, whilst lined up and 'together' in this fashion, stay illuminated white as though they do not know there is another merge block there. Upon moving a piston they flick green and detach the piston head or sometimes go grey as though switched off. Moving both pistons simultaneously just move the unlocked 'white' merge blocks up and down.

 

That is very odd, indeed. One trick I did find was not putting the merge block directly on the piston connection, just realized I never mentioned that in my tip. For example, I'll put a few armor blocks out and around, and place my merge block, for each piston. When they get lined up, the armor blocks usually bounce and dent each other a bit, but that doesn't matter - as soon as the merge is turned on and makes a connection, those armor blocks get locked together and repaired. That lets you jog your piston a bit, and the split second you get that green lock indicator, everything locks together, so it's not just the merge blocks involved. Helps prevent that lock/unlock alignment issue that you are experiencing.

 

Question.
For those that have gotten a multi-piston door/elevator connected. Have you found it stronger or buggier? Assuming that you have both pistons set to the same speed, grouped, and merely use the reverse button to toggle them.

 

The only way I have managed to get multiple pistons on one structure using merge blocks is to use a rotor as a slightly flexible shock absorber between the merge blocks and the structure that I want the pistons attached to. The rotors small amount of flexibility is enough to prevent the piston head detaching when the merge blocks attach, and also eliminates a lot of the problems when minor de-synchs occur.

I've had a large heavy armour section of a ship behaving quite well on a dedicated server for 2 days now with no issues as long as the piston speed is kept very low.


EDIT: Scratch that, I logged on today and it spontaneously exploded on a stationary ship that didn't even have power!

 

Hey there, it's me again.

After playing again SE i tried to connect mutliple pistons exactly the way it's shown on the screenshots from spets. But it don't works? Has there anyhting changed?

Greetings

 

i have made an extendable drilling arm, 5 pistons long and in a 2x2 shape like this


x000x
00000
00000
00000
x000x

before i merged the pistons together the drilling arm would just snap off without even drilling anything, now i have the 2x2 setup the arm is extremely sturdy in comparison.

 

Wipped up this video really quickly for whoever.

 

best would be if we could simply define 2 different shipgrids to merge into 1 grid.
the we would not have to resort to these clunky solutions.

 

Your merge blocks are shiny

 

agree

 

Had similar problems putting two pistons on my ships bay...ended up only using one piston, never thought about using merge blocks.
Thing is, I like it with only one now. Its fast, stable and plenty strong.

 

Made a two piston elevator this way back when pistons first came out:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=295204815

 

Gonna make a video of my version of merging pistons i dont know if its better, but it allows items to travel through the piston still, might be a bit faster aswell as all pistons get merged at the same time, never had a breakage.

 

check this video out for a fast way to merge pistons, minute and 10 seconds for 4 merges

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHmlP2xrnE