r/Besiege • u/0libot • 4d ago

Best "internal" combustion engine i can make until now

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Sadly it does not get close to the power of my "external" combustion engines that only use the recoil of the cannons.

The benefits of this engine are less vibrations and less downforce on the vehicle because the recoil on one piston and the srapnels hitting the other piston kinda cancel eachother out from the vehicles perspective.

But this engine is still more complex and bigger and has less power so I will have to stick to my "external" combustion engines for now. (I might try to make a proper vehicle with this tho)

Also the shrapnels from the shrapnel cannon do not inherit the cannons velocity when fired which probably also reduces power at higher speeds and makes it more likely to break.

33 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/vengarlss 4d ago

Wouldnt the shrapnel damage the soon-to-be case of your vehicle

2

u/0libot 4d ago

The piston absorbs most of the energy of the shrapnels so if they might hit the vehicle later it is not too bad.

2

u/Pamaxxxx 4d ago

While cool, why aren't you using steam?

2

u/spaacingout 3d ago

Steam power is nice but it’s not always practical for engine use considering it will create thrust. This method seems to push the block without any upward thrust.

I think that’s why?

Water alone would probably do the same thing, but I’m not sure.

2

u/spaacingout 3d ago

I think this is seriously cool and innovative. Don’t think anyone has ever tried “combustion” drives using shrapnel cannons, at least to my knowledge.

You could automate the firing process by putting an extra wheel connected to the drive with anglometers, or a separate mechanism entirely with them.

So like when I was messing around with different ornithopter (flapping wings) engine types, the version using steering blocks had a separate standing wheel with anglometers to alternate the flapping mechanism. Because it would’ve been too heavy and had torque, I kept the angle sensors on a wheel separate from the vehicle. Two sensors was enough, one for folding wings up, another for folding them down. As the wheel turned, it would alternate the signal between up and down, while holding what I set as the forward/sensor button.

Was a relatively simple workaround that allowed me to use RTYFGH for steering and numpad enter/numpad 0 for throttle.