How Do YouProcess Refined Iron (Logistic Network)

[Stidrvr]

I'm redoing my storage and processing area. I used to just make refined iron allat one time. I'd take 10 stacks of iron, and place them in induction furnaces when I'm not running the quarry. I'd do this until I had about 30 stacks or so.

Now I'm looking for a way to automate this. Like the tittle says, I'm using logistic pipes exclusively. Currently I have a dedicated chest for R.Iron, that chest has a mk2 chassis pipe with a polymorphic and provider modules. There's also a supplier pipe, that right now is set to keep 9 stacks of R.Iron in the chest, although this is kinda wonky. Then theres an electric furnace with a crafting pipe that tells how to make refined iron.

It seems the supplier pipe requests R.iron from the same chest and it just keeps cycling, if it gets low enough the electric furnace will request iron to convert.

I'd like to be able to split it up right away as soon as it comes in from the quarry, but using logistic pipes, I haven't found a away.

[Mr.Hotkeys]

I'm not quite sure I understand, so you want a chest to actively stay supplied with 30 stacks of refined iron at all time?

Edit: Well if I understood you right, here's how you would do it, at least how I would. Two separate logistics networks, one to handle most of your items and processing (blue) and one to stock the chest (red).

The full system isn't too complicated. I've highlighted the four non-basic logistics pipes of note used. They're circled the same color as the network they're attached to.

So let's break this down:

Top left supplier pipe is attached to your blue network, and keeps 64 iron in that furnace at all times. You could probably change this to 5 or so if your system can keep up with your furnace. The Mk1 chassis in red below it has an extractor Mk2 module to pull out refined iron as it is made. That iron then goes to the red Mk1 chassis above with a passive supplier, which is set to supply the hopper with 64 refined iron. The hopper then, being a hopper, deposits what's in it to the copper chest below it. When needed, the provider pipe in blue on the right lets the copper chest provide refined iron back out to your blue system. It is only set to provide refined iron, this is important for later.

The copper chest's inventory is set up like this. Since you want exactly 30 stacks of refined iron cached at a time, I filled 17 slots in the copper chest with red wool. This means the chest can only take 28 stacks of refined iron. The hopper will hold 64 (as per the supplier module in its chassis) when it can't deposit, and the furnace will hold 64 in its output when it can't be extracted (because there are no valid destinations). This is why we have to split it into two systems; if it was all in one system, the extractor module would happily take refined iron from your furnace and let it keep making more until your default route or terminus destinations were full.

It comes to mind after the fact that I could've used a hopper with a wood chest since together there could be 30 refined iron stocked but this way is more extensible.

[Stidrvr]

No that's just the work around, I'd like to know how to process iron and refined iron as it comes in from the quarry using logistic pipes.

[Mr.Hotkeys]

What portion of your iron do you want turned into refined iron, or would you rather not have a refined iron stock and only have it get refined when needed?

Sorry to be asking so many questions but there are so many ways to do things with logistics pipes that it's hard to answer what you want without knowing what exactly it is that you do want.

[Stidrvr]

Awe man your going all out thanks, I wish I was at home to show you a picture of the setup. But here it goes.

What I'd like is to have the incoming iron ore from the quarry somehow split up into two different directions. One for regular iron, and one for refined (I'm guessing you know that already, I'm just saying it for the sake of saying it) I'm guessing a ration of 3:1 iron:r.iron. We use to be able to do this with one of the buildcraft pipes (cant remember which one) but I'd like to do it with logistics. I could do two networks, the problem is I think I have OCD and like stuff in order. I've never used hoppers as I don't know how they work. When I get off work tonight, I'll post a pic of the setup so you can get an idea.

Edit: I don't really need a certain number (30 stacks). Ideally I'd like to have the gold chest full.

Edit2: come to think of it, couldn't I just fill the entire chest with r.iron, that way it would only make it when I use some from that chest. The chest will stay full and the regular iron will just continue to pile up?

[Mr.Hotkeys]

The hopper acts as a chest with four slots, the difference is that if there's a block with an inventory accessible by its top face directly below it, it'll deposit one item per tick or so into the block below. To put it simply, if you put a stack of coal in a hopper above a chest, that coal will be moved into the chest one-by-one over about 13 seconds.

http://minecraftbuildcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Hopper

The reason I used them is because, with logistics pipes, you can only keep an inventory supplied with, at max, nine stacks of the same item, even with multiple Supplier Pipes/Passive Supplier Modules. So, even though the module is set to supply the hopper with one stack, it'll put whatever it gets into the chest below it, so we effectively get a system that keeps the chest full (with a little excess in the hopper and furnace).

As for splitting it in two ways, I don't think you can safely do this using a Distribution Transport Pipe embedded in your logistics network and there's no module or logistics pipe that can do this, to my knowledge. It's reasonably trivial to always make sure you have x amount of the item with Supplier pipes/modules, though.

Honestly, I think the best way to do this would be to relax the amount of iron you need to nine or fewer stacks, and then optimize your furnace with overclock/transformer/storage upgrades so that it can craft more iron more quickly to keep up with you if you need a bunch of refined iron at once. For my system, I do have a barrel set to store extra refined iron, but it sits empty 99% of the time, since I can just use a Request Pipe Mk2 or Remote Orderer to request exactly how much I need at any given time, and in a few seconds the system has smelted it all for me and delivered it to my ender chest. This will also let you do it in only one network, which does simplify things.

Another option, if you don't want to deal with the Request Pipe or Remote Orderer, is to keep a chest supplied with 64 refined iron all the time so you can grab it, and, optionally, use a redpower manager as well to make sure that, say, if you grab the whole stack and drop a few in your inventory and put the rest back, the leftovers will get sucked out so you'll only have 64 refined iron in that particular chest at any given time. Like this:

The manager just pulls whatever doesn't belong (extra ingots, unrecognized stuff) into a chest with a Mk1 Chassis Pipe with an Extractor Module attached that takes everything out and puts it where it belongs.

[Stidrvr]

I am using a request pipe, and although the make on demand seems nice, today it didn't work all that well. I had requested 64 solar panels to make a mv array, it ran out of R.iron and needed to cook some more, I had 39 solar panels already, but once the r.iron started to come from the furnace, it just went to the chest. I had to manually put the r.iron in the circuit auto crafting table, then it took off again, that's why the need for so much r.iron in reserves. It seems making on the fly just won't cut it. Btw the furnace had 10 over clockers in it, but only a crafting pipe attached instead of a mk2 chassis with an advanced extractor mk3 and item sink.

[Mr.Hotkeys]

Hmm a picture of your setup would help then, because I've got a system capable of going from raw materials to hv solar arrays up and running so you might just need to reconfigure something. The other possibility is that something bugged out, which happens. Logistics pipes can be finicky sometimes and I'll have to restart my server occasionally to get certain sections out of error states.

[Stidrvr]

Sorry its so late in getting back to you. Here are some pictures.

This is where my material comes in to my place.

From there it goes to the macerators if its an ore.

And then to the furances.

From there it goes downstairs to the storage area.

Now to add what I said earlier, the reason it couldn't keep up is because I had a crafting pipe on the furnace to make R.Iron. Thus it couldn't pull out fast enough. I have since changed it to an mk2 chassis with item sink and extractor. This is now set up to receive iron ingots to turn into R.iron. I have an entire chest fill with R.Iron now and the furnace will hold the remaining R.Iron,but if its needing more than 64 it will send that and dump what ever else its made on the ground when its full. So Im guessing your solution is probably the best. Im just still trying to understand it.

[Michael101]

On my system I use pulverizers along with macerators since they convert my multiple copper/tin/silver ores into a single type of copper/tin/silver.

Why not set a crafting pipe on one of your furnaces and set it to input iron - output refined iron, when you(or an autocrafter) request refined iron it will be smelted as needed. Then you can place a supplier module on a chest and set it to keep a small supply of refined iron in reserve.

[Stidrvr]

On my system I use pulverizers along with macerators since they convert my multiple copper/tin/silver ores into a single type of copper/tin/silver.

Why not set a crafting pipe on one of your furnaces and set it to input iron - output refined iron, when you(or an autocrafter) request refined iron it will be smelted as needed. Then you can place a supplier module on a chest and set it to keep a small supply of refined iron in reserve.

That's exactly how I had it set up before, the crafting pipe can't pull out R.iron fast enough to meet the demand for the autocrating table. In this case I was making 64 solar panels. The electronic circuit table was shorted r.iron, that's where the hold up was.

[Mr.Hotkeys]

Crafting Pipe Mk2s can pull 16 items at a time, though I still think you have a problem somewhere else if you think your other crafting stuff broke because it didn't get refined iron enough.

Edit: And what's still got you confused about my solution? It being split into two systems and only extracting when there's a valid destination keeps it from making too much.