Best use for smelted ores

[Obsi]

You probably wouldn't need 4 diamond pipes... as a single pipe has 6 outlets (I think?). So if you're wanting to feed into 4 furnaces, you could probably do it with 1 diamond pipe.

One outlet is taken with everything coming in. One outlet would feed anything that isn't an ore away to another chest, then you should have 4 more outlets for your furnaces.


You don't want items in pipes to queue, as I don't think they stay *in* the pipes, they will be dropped out of the pipe and just sit there, like a block dropped on the ground, and will disappear in 5 mins (or maybe 2-3 mins, some people have mentioned things can despawn quicker than 5 mins)

I've tried experimenting with obsidian pipes to "suck up" overflow, but I've not been able to do it with the configuration I have for my machines (I like to keep things compact and neat). If you google something like "feed the beast pipe overflow" you should find some different solutions for handling overflows.

Early on I just made overflow pipes by running the piping across the top of the machine and back into the chest - so some items would go into the machine and some would bypass it and continue along the pipe - but it's random and things will bypass even if there is room in the machine. I found that by using the diamond pipe, while you have to set the blocks to go into the pipe leading to the machine - it means that it will direct all the blocks into the machine until the machine is full and then the rest will continue along the pipe, so only the overflow is continuing on, not every second block or so ... if that makes sense.

The gates people use seem to have programming to be able to detect if a machine is full - so they seem to essentially do the same thing - if the machine has room - stuff goes in, if it doesn't stuff does something else (what that is I don't know though - whether it stays in the pipe or gets diverted elsewhere)

[white_bear_84]

Originally Posted by OranjeJus

Whitebear, I'll take you for a trip to my ore-processing machine so you can see how it's done

I don't use advanced machines, only basic ones as the time factor is essentially a non-issue for me, so the facility doesn't take too long to get the mats for.

I will drop by next time you are online

[Sorontar]

Theoretically, if too many items gather in a pipe section, the pipe goes boom and none will be recoverable. There is a config value for this. Some people have tested this and not seen it but there is another config value for stacking items, so it may be a maximum of stacked items per pipe section. Either way, you don't want to overdo keeping the items in pipes.

Sorontar

[DaedalusAlpha]

I would strongly recommend NOT using buildcraft pipes. They are way to easy to misuse and are inherently built on an unstable concept. Even if you build your system completely perfect it will still spit out items if it goes over chunk borders where chunks are unloaded. And it's unlikely you will build it perfectly if you're new to it. Overfilling a chest or machine is ever so easy if you're inexperienced.

Redpower is a much better option as it will not even attempt to send an item out into the pipes unless it knows it has a valid destination. And even if the destination becomes invalid during transit it will just return back to where it came from. Instead of diamond pipes you use sorters for redpower. They are a bit more complicated to learn, setup and build, but does not require diamonds on the other hand. Also easier to set up in a compact and overflow-safe manner. Finally redpower is supposed to be nicer on the server altogether.

As for mining you can use either a quarry (which is kind of hard to build now), or a filler with a clear pattern and a water stream beneath it (but it won't keep working if you're not in the vicinity). I suggest hooking the quarries up with short teleport pipes (and these are the only locations where I use pipes). This way you can both take items out of it and send power into it without having to set it all up each time you move the quarry (which you have to do often due to the server rules). Power production and item sorting can be handled in your main base, even if the quarry is far away.

All of this is quite complicated, so I'm not going too deep into it, if you have any more specific questions I can answer them.

[DarkDuck]

here's a very helpful video

[white_bear_84]

Well i started building some last night.. ..havent done much yet though, just the up pipe leading to my plant room.

I dont expect to be passing through enough ore etc to fill up my chests, its really more of a convenience thing - especially in case i get killed while i am down mining: at least this way i can send up my ore while im expanding deep into the wilderness.

As far as furnaces go i will have most of my gear hooked up to a couple of chests, so it would take a fair bit of ore to fill both.. ..as long as i check the status of each of them before/after my expeditions there shouldnt be any problems...

On another note, does anyone know of a wiki around that shows the hardcore requirements for macerators etc? From what i see on the NEI menu a macerator needs an assembly table, which needs lasers etc etc.. ..pretty complex!!

[Cheith]

Just a note on Quarries:
The most difficult thing I found was getting the titanium and smelting it. You need an somewhat upgraded Industrial Blast Furnace to smelt the titanium dust and an industrial electrolyzer to get the dust from Bauxite dust.

Fortunately Bauxite is not too rare, and when you find it it comes in large veins.

The other cheaper (though more annoying and slower option) to quarries would be an array of mining wells.
Cheith.

[OranjeJus]

Rotary Macerator might, but normal one doesn't need anything more than normal crafting. However, to setup a efficient and fully automated good ore processing plant with pipes, you need an assembly table to make gates and pipewire.

However, without the assembly table, the plant just requires regular manual intervention. There's many ways to prevent overloading of furnaces etc without looping, or letting stuff overload and fall out and then use obsidian pipes. Generally, the best way is simply not to overload your plant. Turn the feed on and off with a switch as necessary. Once you have access to assembly table (I borrowed Tourok's for a lot of my stuff as my one was a tad slow) then you can more fully automate the process. You can use hoppers to increase the space for items in an electric furnace (haven't seen if it interfaces with a regular furnace tho...) which allow you to have up to 4 different types/stacks of dust ready to drop into the furnace as room becomes availble for example.

I am almost opposite to Daed. I do recommend using buildcraft pipes. They are simple to learn the rules to, easy to build short range basic sorting with and require a lot less material to make. Tubes and sorting machines would work well when (or if) you scale upwards.

Anyway, I've got a lot on atm, but should be in game a bit tomorrow at least. It's Waitangi Day here in NZ so while I am on call, I will be at home for a lot of the day and that invariably means some presence in FTB.


- OJ

[white_bear_84]

Originally Posted by OranjeJus

Rotary Macerator might, but normal one doesn't need anything more than normal crafting. However, to setup a efficient and fully automated good ore processing plant with pipes, you need an assembly table to make gates and pipewire.

Anyway, I've got a lot on atm, but should be in game a bit tomorrow at least. It's Waitangi Day here in NZ so while I am on call, I will be at home for a lot of the day and that invariably means some presence in FTB.

Hey mate, have an awesome day!

1. Really? The NEI makes it look tricky .. ..i did think it was just 3 flint, 1 machine block, 1 circuit etc... ...but when i tried that it didnt work, unless of course i did something wrong?

2. The gf is out tonight, so that means when i get home.. ..lots of minecraft!!

Currently my plans are to set up a rail network to transport ore and get around underground, at the end of that i have an ofloading point with a couple of chests which the tube will collect items from, the tube runs up a vertical shaft to my workshop where they will be filtered to the appropriate machine, and then from that machine to a collection of storage chests - so quite a few slots will be free!

Edit: Can you combine redpower and buildcraft? e.g. Could i use an ejector to control the rate items are sent up the tube - this way i could factor the burn time for each item and make sure i dont overload the tubes...

[DarkDuck]

the short answe r is not really, however you could use gates and redpipe wire to accomplish the task

with a autric gate you could have it so the pipe will only call an item if there is space.

otherwise you could create a whole system of redstone timers to work. loads of options