| Rotor | |
|---|---|
| |
| Category: | Functional Block |
| Status: | Functional |
| Function: | |
| Allow controlled rotation of all blocks attached to its upper arm. | |
| Fits small ship | |
| Mass: | 168.2 kg |
| Fits large ship and station | |
| Mass: | 576.4 kg |
| Data Controls: | [edit] [purge] (?) |
The 
Rotor is one of the Mechanical Blocks that acts as a swivel for rotating structures on stations and ships.
They are used when building retractable landing feet, collapsible Solar arrays, custom turrets, foldable doors, turning cranes, Mecha legs, truck hitches, Docking systems, and much more.
A workaround exists where you use rotors to attach small-grid blocks to large-grid blocks to create a multigrid. This is detailed below.
Usage[]
The rotor will conduct power and computer access from one subgrid to another. The Advanced Rotor additionally connects the Conveyor system of the main grid and the subgrid.
Blocks connected by rotors 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.
Construction[]
Rotors are composed of two halves: the larger external Rotor casing (technically called stator) and the Rotor Head, the spinning inner shaft with an attachment plate. Though created as one part when being placed from the Tool Bar, you must weld the two halves separately. Forgetting this will cause the rotor plate to be non-functional.
You can also build the Rotor and Rotor Head on two separate grids, align the two grids so the rotor halves overlap, and click the Detach/Attach Head button in the Control Panel Screen to connect the two grids together.
Tip: If you are drifting and can't keep the Rotor halves in place and also click the button, build a temporary Timer Block that triggers Attach on the Rotor halves for you, and also triggers itself once per second, to repeatedly try to attach.
While axially aligned, the two halves allow for some minor movement; if enough rotors are chained together, they can bend and even be forced to loop around.
Controls[]
Rotors can be grouped to share some controls. Most Rotor settings apply also to Hinges.
Access the Rotor through the Control Panel Screen to adjust its settings:
- Torque - Sets the lifting strength of the rotor to overcome subgrid mass and external resistance.
- Braking Torque - Sets the resisting strength of the rotor to hold the mass of attached blocks when the rotor has been stopped or if there's a power outage. If this is zero the Rotor swings freely.
- Velocity - Sets the number of rotations per minute (RPM) that it should actively spin. Positive numbers spin clockwise, negative numbers spin counter clockwise. This RPM value is not precisely enforced like clockwork, in game it can be a bit faster/slower, especially with a heavy subgrid.
- Lower Limit - Sets the farthest point in degrees that the rotor rotates counter clockwise. Or set it to "unlimited" to rotate freely.
- Upper Limit - Sets the farthest point in degrees that the rotor rotates clockwise. Or set it to "unlimited" to rotate freely.
- Displacement - Sets the distance of the rotor head to its base. Useful to position the subgrid precisely, for example, to fit a door frame or elevator shaft. (Added in update 1.040.)
Buttons:
- Switch Block On/Off - A switched off Rotor without Rotor Lock spins passively, which is useful for secondary rotors or that are used for stabilisation and not for lifting.
- Rotor Lock - Stops the rotor even if the velocity is non-zero.
- Reverse - Lets you quickly invert the velocity and makes the rotor turn the other way round.
- Share Inertia Tensor - See “Stability” section.
- Detach/Attach/Add Head - You can connect two grids of the same or different block size by attaching a Rotor Head to a Stator. See also the “Workaround to Connect Small and Large Blocks” section.
Stability[]
In general, it's safest to use mechanical blocks only on static grids. Rotors can push blocks into each other and generate vibrations that shake a mobile grid apart when connected one to another to form subgrids.
On the Control Panel Screen, enable the Share Inertia Tensor setting of all subgrid rotors (except on the first rotors that’s attached to the main grid) to equalise the virtual masses to achieve more stable behaviour.
If you use Rotors on mobile grids, setting 
Gyroscopes on override and locking down the grid safely with 
Landing Gear can help to reduce shaking.
Workaround to Connect Small and Large Blocks[]
It’s an interesting fact that small grid rotor heads also fit on large grid rotor stators. This means that you can create grids that are a mix of large and small grid blocks. For example, through such a hybrid rotor, you can attach a large grid longer-ranged Ore Detector to a small-grid ship.
The only disadvantage of this method is that the attached grid is considered a subgrid which has some limitations with steering and Inertial Dampers.
Usually the large-grid Rotor Head and its Stator are placed together. When you open the control panel, you see a Detach button that lets you drop the large Rotor Head. Like any block, you can add a small Rotor Head to your toolbar and place it on another mobile grid. Then move the two grids together so the two halves overlap; then press the Attach button to make the game acknowledge the connection like a hitch. Careful: When handling large masses, damage may ensue when to rotors attach while blocks being to close and clanging out.
Or, after detaching the large Rotor Head, you can use the provided Add Small Head button to quickly attach a small Rotor Head, and then continue building upon that. In Creative Mode or with Creative Tools enabled, you can also use ctrl-x and ctrl-v to cut and paste Rotor Heads to achieve the same goal.
How to synchronise two rotors?[]
How to set two rotors to the same velocity but opposite direction:
- Switch both Rotors off.
- Select both together in the Control Panel Screen and set them both to the same velocity and same braking torque values. Tip: Ctrl-click on a slider to enter a numeric value.
- Select one Rotor, and click Reverse.
- Switch both Rotors back on.
How to set up more than two stops?[]
When you look at the Controls above, you notice that you can only set one upper and one lower limit. The rotor reverses between these two angles and stops only there. What if you want the rotation to stop in middle positions as well?
One solution would be scripting but that's not an option for everyone. Another "Vanilla" approach is using an Event Controller.
A very precise scriptless Vanilla solution[1] would be to force the rotating subgrid to come to a halt by "docking" it to the grid.
- Build your rotating grid and make it rotate between its upper and lower limit.
- Mark the position where you want it to stop in between.
- Build a matching pair of docking blocks, one on the rotor subgrid and one on the main grid.
- E.g. two Connectors, or two Merge blocks, or Hinge+Hinge Part, or Rotor+Rotor Head.
- When the subgrid rotates past the spot, make it stop by "docking" it to the main grid:
- For mechanical blocks, set up a Timer Block that triggers Attach once per second and then restarts itself.
- For Connectors, enable Auto-Lock.
- For Merge blocks, switch both on.
Base Offset[]
The base offset of a large basic rotor is 0.420864 metres. To make it flush with the block grid, stack 5 of them and set their offsets to -0.0792 metres. Stacking 4 at max offsets comes 2 cm short. The base offset of a small basic rotor is 0.03604 metres. To make it flush with the block grid, set the offset to -0.009 metres.
Source: (Official Statement) Piston and Rotor Offsets
Recipe[]
| Rotor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Large Ship/Station Required | Large Ship/Station Optional | Small Ship Required | Small Ship Optional |
 Computer | 2 | — | 1 | — |
 Motor | 4 | — | 1 | — |
 Small Steel Tube | — | — | 1 | — |
 Large Steel Tube | 4 (+24 for the head) | — | — | — |
 Construction Comp. | 10 | — | — | — |
 Steel Plate | 10 | 5 (+30 for the head) | 3 | 2 |
Gallery[]
Video[]
- Space Engineers Tutorial: Rotors (2017)
- Older Videos:
