Hinge blocks are Mechanical Blocks much like elbow joints that can apply torque to a subgrid allowing for 180 degrees of motion. Technically they are a variant of a rotor.
Hinges are used when building retractable landing gear, foldable Solar arrays, foldable doors, cranes, custom turrets, Mecha legs, and much more.
Like other mechanical blocks, blocks connected by Hinges will appear in different colors in the control panel. The attached grid is referred to as subgrid and is treated differently as far as steering is concerned.
Controls[]
Technically, Hinges are Rotors with a 180 degree limitation and the attachment point on another side.
Hinges have practically the same Controls as Rotors -- details see there!
The most important settings for Hinges are Upper Limit and Lower Limit.
Enable Hinge lock if you need to prevent free flexing.
A high Braking Torque prevents slacking when switched off or unpowered, setting this to zero allows the Hinge to move loosely.
Use Velocity and Reverse to control the motion.
The up and down position of the hinge can be identified using the "-" line on the model as shown in the image below.
Hinges can be grouped to share some controls.
Construction[]
Hinges exist for small grids and large grids. Small grids have a third Hinge variant in addition to the regular one, called the Hinge 3x3, that attaches to a 3x3 block area on a small grid.
Large-grid Hinges are quite reliable when fit inside the space of full sized armor blocks because their hitboxes are smaller than 1x1x1 large grid block, allowing for flush doors. Hinges are however notairtight.
Hinges are composed of two separate parts that you must both weld up, a Hinge and a Hinge Part, they operate as a single block.
When you place the full Hinge from the Tool Bar-menu, the Hinge Part is added automatically.
The two halves are also available separately in the Tool Bar-menu and can be built on separate grids. For example, to build a hitch between a rover and a trailer.
To disconnect the Hinge Part, for example to disconnect a hitch, click Detach on the Control Panel Screen.
After moving the two grids close together so that Hinge and Hinge Part overlap, press the Attach button in the Control Panel Screen to connect the Hinge halves.
Tip: If you're drifting and you can't keep the two Hinge halves in place and also click the button, build a Timer Block that triggers Attach on the Hinge block for you, and then make it trigger itself once per second, to repeatedly try to attach.
Stability[]
In general, it's safest to use mechanical blocks on static grids. Hinges can push grids into one another and generate vibrations that shake mobile grids apart when connected one to another to form subgrids.
On the Control Panel Screen, enable the Share Inertia Tensor setting on all subgrid hinges (except on the first hinge that’s attached to the main grid!) to equalise the virtual masses to achieve more stable behaviour.
On mobile grids, set up a Gyroscope on override for stabilisation; or if possible, lock down the grid safely with Landing Gear to prevent shaking.