Mob Essence and Grinder Help

[dlepi24]

I've been trying to make an auto spawner work, however, i need mob essence. So, I've set up a grinder powered off steam dynamo in a creative world to test everything out and it kills the first one or two then stops. It has full power, but the Idle bar stops moving and just stays at 200t (I'm guessing its 200 ticks?). I've upgraded to higher power supplies but the power doesn't seem to be the issue? Have any of you set up a successful grinder to extract mob essence yet? If you'd like i could record what I've been trying in a creative world and maybe I'm doing things wrong, I'm not sure. I am new to all of these mods but I've watched several tutorials and different builds and I just cant seem to get the grinders to consistently work. Any ideas or help would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Dlepi24

[dlepi24]

 

here's a video of my single player world of what's going on. It's pretty much the same as the creative world problem. 

[Kr0nZ]

Hmm, the grinder does have an extra waiting time other then the 200 tick idle, mine usually waits like a minute before starting the 200t idle, then it will count down 200t, then kills like 10-20 mobs at 20t intervals, then waits another minute before starting the 200t countdown.

 

but it looks like yours isn't really working at all, try putting the grinder at the same level of the feet of the mob, right now you have it half a block higher, and try giving it more space so the mobs can spread out, the grinder has a 5x5 kill area in front of it, I give mine 5x2.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Kr0nZ

[dlepi24]

Alright, I'll try in my singleplayer world as well as my test world and see if one of those suggestions works. Thanks.

[dlepi24]

Alright, I figured it out. I didn't realize it mattered exactly where you ran your energy in and mob essence out. I had the power going into the top of the grinder and the essence out of the back. I found out you have to have the power and the mob essence each on the side of the grinder for it to continuously work. I figured I'd post this incase anyone made the same mistake as i did. Thanks.

[Targren]

I had the same problem as dlepi24, so thanks for helping me work that out.

 

I find that the problem comes back if I connect an itemduct to the back OR bottom (the only 2 options left without tearing down my design and starting from scratch). I'm new to tech mods in general, so I'm hoping I'm just doing it wrong, so if anybody's got any hints, I'd be oh so grateful.

 

UPDATE: Nevermind. Apparently any sort of connection error makes the grinder stop running its idle timer, including not setting the end of the item duct properly. Doh

Edited March 8, 2014 by Targren

[dlepi24]

Really, an itemduct in the back didnt work? All the mob drops come out the back, i really figured an itemduct would work. I have a chest set up in the back of mine. You could mess with the project red transportation pipes and route them instead of using itemducts.

[Targren]

Really, an itemduct in the back didnt work? All the mob drops come out the back, i really figured an itemduct would work. I have a chest set up in the back of mine. You could mess with the project red transportation pipes and route them instead of using itemducts.

 

It worked with the grinder once I turned the "output" arrow on (derp!).

 

The harvester, on the other hand... For some reason, I can't get a harvester ->ItemDuct -> Item Router to work right (posted about this elsewhere).  Didn't have any luck with the Project Red pipes, either (then again, I've never figured out how to use them right). Finally I just worked around it by moving the router closer to the harvester and running a conveyor belt from where the items drop to run into the router.

 

Of course, I haven't tried this again since the update, since my old SP world crashes when I try to load it now. Luckily it was just a creative "scratch pad"

[led184]

Your Fix doesnt seem to work for me i cant get the grinder to run i have done everything you have done but it doesnt work?

Nevermind i found the solution Thanks!!

Edited March 25, 2014 by led184

[Loader]

Sometimes I've had it work properly when it's a level lower than I'd usually put it (the same level as the floor, rather than the lowest wall level), so that's worth a try if you've done this other stuff.

[gremlinclr]

I've found that MFR machines and item ducts sometimes don't get along. The idle timer will stop just like yours did. I decided to just put chests behind the machines to catch items and then attach the item ducts to the chest to route things and that works fine.

[Targren]

I've found that MFR machines and item ducts sometimes don't get along. The idle timer will stop just like yours did. I decided to just put chests behind the machines to catch items and then attach the item ducts to the chest to route things and that works fine.

 

An alternative to this, if you want to route or sort items, is to conveyer belt the items into an item router, and have the item ducts feed from that into your chests.

 

It's a bit of a kluge, but it does have the advantage that full chests will make the items sit on the belt outside the router and despawn, rather than gumming up the pipes...

[HalestormXV]

I've come across this too. It is rather spontaneous. But best setup that I have found to be most efficient and hasn't given me a single issue for grinder is to have the grinder on the floor level. So if you have a 5 high room your grinder is at level 1. Have your essence pump out the bottom of the grinder via fluiduct. But make sure the output mode is set (red arrow). Power into the top or the side. Chest attached to the back and item duct coming from chest also set with output mode. Also for good measure put a pneumatic servo into each of the output mode pipes and set red stone signal to low or ignore so it is always on. I have that setup and it is flawless. Also if you plan on using a strongbox at the back of the grinder make sure access is set to public or it will lock up your system.

Edited March 26, 2014 by HalestormXV