Constant rotation.

[MrWiggly]

How do i get this to work, i watched a vid by bench saying that all i need is a activation block placed next to the rotator and have it tied to it.

but when i tried it, it only makes 1 rotation then stops, i have to turn it off and on again to get another rotation.

is there a way to get constant uninterrupted rotation?

 

[Edymnion]

Two ways:

1) Use a button instead of an activator. Constant rotation, but it does tend to stop for a brief moment before starting up again.
2) Use a two way linked delay on the activator (activator linked to delay, delay linked to activator) that will turn the activator back off when the rotator turns it on.

I used #1 for a while, but didn't like how it was jerky as it entered a new rotation, so I toyed around and found #2 was much smoother.

 

[MrWiggly]

I tried the button and that works but looks garbage.

i am not sure what you mean by number 2.

can you be more descriptive on how that setup looks?

 

[Edymnion]

I'm not sure how I can be any more clear than what I said in the original post. Put down an activator. Link it to a delay, then link the delay back into the activator so that the delay turns the activator back off after the rotator turns it on.
[DOUBLEPOST=1443017795,1443017390][/DOUBLEPOST]Basically, the rotator blocks only spin when they see a rising edge, not a steady on signal. The button works because it blips a new on signal every time, but there is a slight delay caused by the nature of the button. The activator doesn't seem to have that delay, but you have to keep turning it back off to keep the rotating going (because the rotator block doesn't see the steady on as being a command to keep spinning).

If you put the delay block in there, it shuts the activator back off after it tells the rotator to keep spinning, so that when the rotator sends out the "Okay, I'm done" pulse, the activator is off and ready to switch back on to tell it to keep going.

 

[MrWiggly]

I thought so, thats what i tried. the delay doesnt seem to turn the switch back off, just locks the delay on. and then does nothing and the rotation stops when its done.

im not sure if my games bugging out or something.

by activator you mean the block with the hand on it yea?

EDIT: its only doing the 90 degree turn not a full rotation could that be the issue?
[DOUBLEPOST=1443018457,1443018090][/DOUBLEPOST]Nah tried it with a longer turn nothing different.

i tested the 2 way with the activator and that does not turn it off, just keeps the delay on.
[DOUBLEPOST=1443018765][/DOUBLEPOST]:/ not sure how i can make it better, looks like ill need to settle for the button, maybe make the rotation much longer so it doesnt jerk as much

 

[shadowulf]

An easy way I found is button next to the rotator, linked to a button with the rotator you want it to switch to. Basically have your 'I'm done rotating' pulse trigger the next rotation. To have it togglable just link buton-AND-button with rotator and have your activation module connect to the AND, also the button with the activator so one pulse starts the turning and subsequent pulses must go through the AND gate. Hope this helps.

 

[Rixxan]

Activators must be linked to the block in question, not just near the target.

 

[shadowulf]

Activators must be linked to the block in question, not just near the target.

Totally forgot that, though I do believe the OP Is aware. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Jaaskinal]

I'm not sure how I can be any more clear than what I said in the original post. Put down an activator. Link it to a delay, then link the delay back into the activator so that the delay turns the activator back off after the rotator turns it on.
[DOUBLEPOST=1443017795,1443017390][/DOUBLEPOST]Basically, the rotator blocks only spin when they see a rising edge, not a steady on signal. The button works because it blips a new on signal every time, but there is a slight delay caused by the nature of the button. The activator doesn't seem to have that delay, but you have to keep turning it back off to keep the rotating going (because the rotator block doesn't see the steady on as being a command to keep spinning).

If you put the delay block in there, it shuts the activator back off after it tells the rotator to keep spinning, so that when the rotator sends out the "Okay, I'm done" pulse, the activator is off and ready to switch back on to tell it to keep going.

yeah...that doesn't work. What you really want to do is set it up so you have two activators adjacent and connected to the rotor, each and connected to a not, and the nots going to the activator that does not lead to them. This should make somewhat of an x shape. It might also be smoother if you use longer than 90deg rotations, when I want constant rotation, I make mine rotate at 360deg connecting the rotor to eight activated activators.

 

[Aynslei]

Here is what I set up to trigger constant rotation.

Spoiler

Link the button and activator to the AND, and then the AND to the rotator, next link the activator to the button.
When the activator is turned on it will constantly rotate.

(Side note: This set up can/will fail to trigger at speeds higher than 160%)

 

[TheWendigo]

Select your rotation block with 'c', select eight activation modules with 'v', activate all of the activation modules with 'r', dock the part you want to continuously rotate to your rotation block. Add a speed controller as desired.

 

[timethatswasted]

Woah now, flag this thred for misinformation...

You all have it quite wrong except for Wendigo.

Rotation was changed quite a while ago to be controlled properly by the rail speed controler. In the current build there is some wonky-ness that causes the rail to lock up if you don't do it in this exact manner:

1: place your rotar and dock your ship core to it.

2: place a button directly behind the rotor, activate it and get that puppy spinning.

3: place a rail speed controler and link it to the rail rotor. Select the controler with "C" and click on the rail rotor with "V"

4: place 8 or so activation blocks and link then to the controler. Selecting the speed controler with "C" and clicking on each of the individual activation block with "V"

At this point, with all the activation block off, the rotor will be stopped. As you turn them on one by one the rotor will speed up. Turn on blocks, or add more blocks until you reach your desired speed. The more activation blocks you have the more you can control the speed of the rotor.

So now that first button you placed no longer controls the rotor. All it does it send out a pulse each time the rotor turns. You can now use that button to make clocks and stuff.

Hope that helps

 

[Edymnion]

yeah...that doesn't work.

Funny, I'm using that setup on my base for the rotating ring and it works just fine.

 

[shadowulf]

Woah now, flag this thred for misinformation...

You all have it quite wrong except for Wendigo.

Rotation was changed quite a while ago to be controlled properly by the rail speed controler. In the current build there is some wonky-ness that causes the rail to lock up if you don't do it in this exact manner:

1: place your rotar and dock your ship core to it.

2: place a button directly behind the rotor, activate it and get that puppy spinning.

3: place a rail speed controler and link it to the rail rotor. Select the controler with "C" and click on the rail rotor with "V"

4: place 8 or so activation blocks and link then to the controler. Selecting the speed controler with "C" and clicking on each of the individual activation block with "V"

At this point, with all the activation block off, the rotor will be stopped. As you turn them on one by one the rotor will speed up. Turn on blocks, or add more blocks until you reach your desired speed. The more activation blocks you have the more you can control the speed of the rotor.

So now that first button you placed no longer controls the rotor. All it does it send out a pulse each time the rotor turns. You can now use that button to make clocks and stuff.

Hope that helps

Hmm. Interesting as my station works just fine with my serup-tested yesterday on the nfd build server. A rail controller is not nessesary, and my setup doesn't use one. Again, its button behind rotator, linking to an AND gate, linked to a button(linked to the rotator) with the desired rotator next to it. An activation module is placed to toggle on/off, and linked to the button (second placed, the one that triggers the rotator to change) and the AND gate. Works like a charm and simple

 

[Jaaskinal]

Funny, I'm using that setup on my base for the rotating ring and it works just fine.

I'd be interested to see it working. A screenshot would do, a blueprint attatched to a comment would be better. If it works, it's simpler than mine, but I don't believe there's any way for the circuit to reset itself.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I believe the activator next to a rotator allowing for full continuous rotation was a bug that was fixed.

I just rebuilt my helicopter and I was able to get full rotation using only a few activators with the rail speed controller to get 100% of the speed. You only need enough activators to increase the rotation degree enough for the button to have enough time to reset so when it completes a full rotation it will trigger the button again. You can use the activator from the rail speed controller as one of the activators that add angle of rotation. I'm fairly certain I got it working with 4 activators (180 degrees) but I have 5 on there just to keep things symmetrical.

 

[frumpstiggle]

It seems plenty of people have explained how to do it, but no one has really explained the basic mechanics.

By default, when a ship is docked to a rotator (or when a rail is replaced with a rotator) the docked ship is rotated 90 degrees at 50% speed. Linking active activators to a rotator (select the rotator with 'c' and the activators with 'v') will control the degree of rotation. Each activator is 45 degrees, so one linked activator does a 45 degree turn, two does 90 degrees, eight does 360. Linking more than eight activators results in constant rotation.

Rail speed controllers can affect how fast the rail rotates, based on the percentage of active vs inactive linked activators. Thus, if you link more activators, you can make finer adjustments. With one activator, you can either go full speed (twice default) or stop. With two, you can go full speed, half speed, or stop. With ten you can do 10% increments, etc.

Note that setting out 10+ activators isn't the most compact, but it is the simplest. Hope this helped.

 

[Edymnion]

I'd be interested to see it working. A screenshot would do, a blueprint attatched to a comment would be better. If it works, it's simpler than mine, but I don't believe there's any way for the circuit to reset itself.

I can get you one tonight.

But basically you turn the activator on, it starts the rotator going. The delay turns it back off, nothing happens to the rotator when it turns off. When it finishes it's quarter turn, it pulses out the "I'm done signal" to the activator, which then sends back the "keep going" rising edge to the rotator block. Delay then resets it again. Perpetual motion achieved.

Its basically the same setup as having a button on it (the button simply resets itself instead of using a delay block to do it), but for some reason the button makes my ring pause for a split second before starting up again, and the activator doesn't.

 

[StormWing0]

Odd I could swear that connecting the rotator to activation blocks let change the rotation in 45 degree increments. While connecting a speed controller to activation blocks and than to the rotator lets you change the speed of it. Not sure if they've made it simpler yet though.

 

[Edymnion]

Okay, my apologies, it needed a button in there too:

Delay goes into the button which goes into the activator to give it what it needs to toggle. Now that I see it again, I believe I recall that the delay wasn't toggling the activator back off correctly by itself.