'Drill-O-Matic' Mining Excavator
| 'Drill-O-Matic' Mining Excavator | ||
 | ||
| Resource harvester by Kerbodyne | ||
| Radial size | Radial mounted | |
| Cost | (total) | 6 000.00 
|
| Mass | (total) | 1.250 t |
| Drag | 0.2 | |
| Max. Temp. | 2000 K | |
| Impact Tolerance | 7 m/s | |
| Research |  Advanced Science Tech
| |
| Unlock cost | 18 000
| |
| Since version | 1.0 | |
| Part configuration | RadialDrill.cfg | |
| Harvester type | Planetary | |
| Resource | Ore | |
| Efficiency | 150 % | |
| Electricity required | 22.5 ⚡/s | |
| Ore | 1.5 unit/s | |
| Harvester type | Asteroid | |
| Efficiency | 500 % | |
| Electricity required | 7.5 ⚡/s | |
| Harvester type | Comet | |
| Efficiency | 500 % | |
| Electricity required | 7.5 ⚡/s | |
| Optimum Temp | 500 K | |
| Shutdown Temp | 1000 K | |
| Max Cooling | 100 kW | |
| Packed volume | None | |
The 'Drill-O-Matic' Mining Excavator is a resource harvester. The Kerbals can use this part to extract ore from the surface of a celestial body. The drill must be connected to a craft with an ore tank in order for it to be able to extract any ore.
Uses
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The primary use for the Drill-O-Matic is for mining. If a player positions the drill on an area with a nominal amount of ore beneath the surface, which can be determined by completing planetary scans with resource scanners, the player can use the drill to collect ore that can be turned into liquid fuel, oxidizer or monopropellant with converters. A qualified engineer will increase the output efficiency (however more than one engineer will have no additional effect). Since version 1.0.1 the Drill-O-Matic will not produce overheating anymore.
Though not designed for this purpose, the drill can be used to lift up the part that it is connected to, though this can lead to the drill flipping over or breaking.
Ore extraction rate
While the drill is active, it extracts ore depending on the ore concentration in the area, and the presence and Drill level of an engineer on-board. The ore extraction rate is 0.075·c·m where "c" is the concentration between 0 and 1 and "m" is the multiplier supplied by the level of the highest level engineer on-board. These are as follows:
| Level | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| ☆☆☆☆☆ | 5x |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | 9x |
| ★★☆☆☆ | 13x |
| ★★★☆☆ | 17x |
| ★★★★☆ | 21x |
| ★★★★★ | 25x |
Practical details
This part needs 100kW of cooling, or it will overheat and go into auto-shutdown mode. You can also expect that it will need the equivalent output of one Gigantor XL Solar Array. For a very rough estimate, assume that one of these drills will produce .05 units of ore per second.
To have the drill run "in the background" (so you don't need to watch it produce ore), you need to leave it alone for more than 6 hours. If you switch focus back to the craft with the drill before 6 hours have passed, the drill will retroactively stop.
Asteroids lose mass as if the drill were always running at 100% thermal efficiency. So if the drill is not at 100% (because you don't have enough radiators), then the asteroid will lose mass faster than the mass of the ore in the tanks increases.
There may currently be a bug when drilling asteroids in that the asteroid continues to lose mass when the ore tanks are full. There is also currently a bug in that asteroids lose mass at twice the rate they should under timewarp.
Product description
| “ | Designed to help extract valuable resources from the crust of planets and asteroids, the Drill-O-Matic uses a rotary drill combined with an internal transfer auger to pull crushed regolith into holding tanks for later processing. When operated by a skilled engineer, you will be able to operate with better efficiency. — Kerbodyne |
” |
Changes
- Replaced overheat mechanic with a skill-based mechanic
- Initial release
