Comments by "mpetersen6" (@mpetersen6) on "Curious Droid" channel.

When it comes complicated mechanical devices it seems Naiper's was smoking crack. I will give them credit though. Most of them worked.
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@AnthonyHandcock A four crankshaft layout can easily run with all the cracks rotating the same direction. A three crank engine simply can't.
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While CAD systems do make things easier in terms of doing the drawings and engineering calculations it doesn't take the place of imagination or intuition.
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The R-2800 was built under license by by Buick, Ford and Nash
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When the Schuttle was under development in the 70s one side project was something called the Beam Builder. A machine to take rolls of Aluminum/Aluminium and run them through a set of forming fies to make tubes and weld the parts into beams that would be similiar to the towers used in some areas for radio or television antennas. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19820002206&ved=2ahUKEwjjqbabqOjxAhVTaM0KHfYUDoEQFnoECAcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2UW1KUd5b20vnd1g-B1arD As a concept it never really went anywhere due to lack of application/need. Eventually I would expect a great deal of basic manufacturing of spacecraft meant for deep space applications to built primarily on the Moon or from lunar resources. One reason is the resources Aluminum/Aluminium, Iron, Titanium, Silicon etc area readily available along with the solar energy for processing the ores (regolith mostly). Some of the more complex systems may still be built on Earth especially life support but the basic structures, tankage etc is better built off Earth. Especially once space craft get large enough to where launching them in one piece is pretty much impossible. The idea of 3D printing the components would probably be better performed in a vacuum.
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We are a long way from practical mass 3d metal printing of high precision items in my opinion. Yes there are certain things that can and are being done. But if you need thousands of say engine blocks a day current technology of creating and machining does the job. I want to see ISO Class 2 or ABEC Class 7 bearings being 3d printed.
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@AndreiTupolev BRM loved their excessively complicated but powerful Formula I engines didn't they. In the past I've made the arguement that Napier's Sabre as good as it was, was in truth an excessive waste of skilled manhours when the job could just as well have been done by Rolls Royce Griffin. After WWII Napier developed one of the most advanced piston engines for aircraft use ever built. The Nomad. Just in time for jets.
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The prototypes for an interstellar ark will be colonies similar to the O'Neil proposals in the 1970's. In fact it may well be that interstellar colonies if ever attempted may well be more interested in colonizing the target systems asteroids and other small bodies instead of going down to any habitable or semi-habitable planet. In reality we are a long way from even thinking about serious star ships being proposed. The technology needed will also be adaptable to improving life on Earth.
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At the same time this was being developed RR was also working on the X-24 Exe.
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@andyharman3022 The Exe was an air cooled X-24 layout sleeve valve engine. You're thinking of the Vulture. While the idea of a 24 cylinder combining two V-12s on a common crankshaft sounds so reasonable I don't know of any to really enter service aside from the Vulture. And the Vulture was no prize. There were a number of proposed 24 cylinder engines based on using 4 banks of 6 cylinders from successful V-12s in H-24 layouts. But the jet was on the way. https://oldmachinepress.com/2012/11/23/rolls-royce-exe-boreas-and-pennine/
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@TheFastAndThe Dead As I look at the flat tires.
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Due to launch on the SLS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,someday.
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I wonder if the Deltic was the inspiration for Bill Lear's abortive Indianapolis 500 steam car. https://www.steamcarnetwork.com/blog/4153969
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Why 5 vs 33. Given the tech at the time it had to be far easir to control the flow of fuel and oxider to the engines with just 5 engines
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Close on 20 years ago I went to a training seminar at a machine tool builder (Ingersoll Machine Tool) and they demonstrated some machining centers that were being built for a company or government agency in India. The slides on the machines were not controlled via ball screws as in most CNC machinery. The slides and slidesways were linear electric motors with the position encoders built int the machine bases. Fast, very very fast.
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@TechnologistAtWork Weightless does not mean massless plus there is inertia etc involved. Robotic printer tries to move beam around and robot changes orientation. In actuality it might be better to do the basic manufacturing on the lunar surface. Lifting components from Luna to say L1 can be done with chemical rockets burning LOX and Aluminum. Infact it can be used as a monopropellant where the Aluminum is suspended in the LOX as slurry.
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