Got Wood? Use it!

[MaryuZ]

Hello everyone.
I'm playing the FTB DW20 pack but this can be used in any pack that has: BC , IC2, Forestry or Steve's carts, Factorization
I'm making this thread to show my solution to a problem we've all been having....stacks of wood piling up.
So you're playing FTB ...chances are you're playing a modpack that has forestry...and forestry has awesome biogas engines...cheap renewable BC power. In order to get the biomass you'll have a tree farm...be it a forestry tree farm or a steves carts one or some other mod I don't know about it doesn't really matter...you'll use the saplings to make biomass, you'll eat the apples or make biomass out of them but you'll end up with a bunch of wood piling up...barrels of the stuff.
So what to do with all that wood? Well....burn it....make energy out of it....but what kind?....BC power?...you probably don't need more BC power considering you have biogas engines and BC power doesn't overflow very nicelly....pipes explode and conduits just waste the power and you can't sink it into something either.
Well then RP2 power....oh wait...you can't do that yet.
Well then how about IC2 power...that thing overflows nicely and you can also sink all the extra power into a mass fab making that awesome pink goo. Well then it's settled EU it is.
So I set up a bunch of generators connected to a line that goes into a mass fab....made sure all the generators touch each other and set up a router to put whatever lands in it into all connected generators. from there i have a second router next to the first one and an ender chest next to it...the second router pulls whatever is in the ender chest and ejects it into the first router. I chose Factorization for the distribution mechanism because I wanted to learn about routers and their upgrades but other distribution mechanisms such as rp2 tubes or bc pipes can work also but would have to be bigger and lagyer.

Spoiler: Generators

So now I have a system that can take the wood and burn it for EU making delicious UU out of it...as a matter of fact I have a system that can take anything and burn it for EU....anything I throw in that ender chest.
But let's focus on the wood...
If I burn the wood I get 750 EU per wood...that doesn't sound very good.
If I turn it into planks and burn it I get 3000 EU per wood...that sounds better
If i turn it into charcoal and burn it I get just under 4000 EU per wood considering the EU needed to char it.
But if I turn the wood into scaffolds and burn the scaffolds I get 10666 EU per wood...that sounds great...that's what I'm doing.
All I need now is a way to automatically mass produce scaffolds.
So I grabbed a stack of wood and headed outside and here's what I came up with:

Spoiler: Version 1

It's rather simple...just a bunch of auto crafting tables doing their stuff...the complicated part is making sure it backlogs nicely and doesn't create chaos when stuff goes wrong.
So the first table makes planks using the wood from the input chest next to it and a wooden pipe controlled by a gate pulls the planks to a second chest.
To that chest there are two other tables attached one making sticks and putting it into a third chest and the second making sscaffolds using the sticks also.
it's pretty clear from the picture how it works....what's worth mentioning though is that it doesn't actually work...it get's stuck or makes a mess....with the gates set to pull when inventory empty the whole system gets stuck with a plank in the planks chest ....not enough to craft and not empty to refil.
With the gates set to pull when there's space in inventory it works great ...for a while.....until the chests get full....and then it all goes horribly wrong...the gates seem to bug out and not detect that there's no more room in the inventories so they just keep crafting and everything spills on the floor.

Spoiler: Version 2

With the auto crafting tables failing me I moved on to fabricators.
Fabricators are awesome...they were made for just this type of thing...the fact that they can use other fabricators as adjacent inventories to pull for ingredients makes for a superb compact build.
They backlog just fine...with all fabricators keeping a full 9 slots of items and overall work great.
But there's a problem....this build doesn't scale nicely.
This setup can barely provide for 5 generators as it is slowed down by the fact that the gate pulls just one item out of a fabricator.

Spoiler: Version 3

The idea behind version 3 was to combine version's 1 scalability with version's 2 backlog ability.
the first 2 fabricators make and keep 9 stacks of planks supplied, the third fabricator makes and keeps 9 stacks of sticks supplied and the auto crafting table makes the scaffolds making life easy for the pipe wich pulls a craft at a time (16 scaffolds) instead of 1 at a time as it would from a fabricator.
After I set this up it seemed to work just fine...but then i noticed that the sticks fabricator stopped crafting...the crafting table pulls out and uses in it's craft the 2 planks that are in the fabricator's crafting recipe ( this is apparently a bug as it dupes 2 ghost items and also I don't think it's intended that the auto crafting table has access to the fabricator's crafting grid)
Overall...version 3 fails as well.

Spoiler: Version 4

Version 4 is just Version 2 modified to scale better on higher demands....also this picture is the actual setup I have and it's working flawlessly so far...it's been going for 2 days.
Initially I had the gate on the pipe itself but that bugged out ( it seems that when a gate is connected to more than 1 inventories the trigger checks all of them in an "or" matter)... the gate would detect that the engine's inventory was empty and keep emitting signal causing item spillage chaos.
Also I've used an emerald pipe on the fabricator set to only pull out scaffolds but I discovered that wooden ones work just as well (because the fabricator is full of scaffolds anyway and the pipe doesn't seem to have access to the fabricator's crafting grid like the table does)
Overall this design scales very nice and can easily be upgraded if required....the limiting factors being the speed at wich the pipe pulls into the ender chest as a first limit and that can be upped by upgrading the engine and as a second limit there would be the speed at wich fabricators craft....but that's pretty high and considering that the recipe yields 16 scaffolds I would say this design could easily power somewhere around ( 75 ticks to burn a scaffold in 1 generator and 16 scaffolds a tick) say 1200 generators?
I have it feeding 24 generators and it's doing just fine....I actually built a second tree cutter cart and with 2 carts each doing a chunk sized farm it barely makes excess wood (like 1 stack a day) and that could be easily changed by adding more generators.

I think this is a cool, complex and efficient way of getting rid of all your extra wood that can flexibly be applied to existing systems (as you can see i just plunked down some generators on the existing line running from my geos to my mass fab) and scales very well.
It also can be instantly switched from wood to coal or coal coke or any other generator fuel if required.(just pump it into the chest)

I would like to see if you have ideas on how to make it more compact / more lag free / just better in general
And i would like to see your opinion on my build.

 

[budge]

I would go with version 2 but replace the wooden pipe with a filter. That should make it faster.

Edit: Try a router with bandwidth and ejector upgrades. Then you won't need a timer. Or, if glut rickety (blutricity* autocorrect fail) is nearby, a sorting machine in automatic pull mode.

 

[MaryuZ]

I would go with version 2 but replace the wooden pipe with a filter. That should make it faster.

Edit: Try a router with bandwidth and ejector upgrades. Then you won't need a timer. Or, if glut rickety (blutricity* autocorrect fail) is nearby, a sorting machine in automatic pull mode.

Router sounds good...I guess the train of thought got stuck at pipes because initially I tried doing it with auto crafting tables and those require wooden pipes to craft....but the router will also need an item filter upgrade...the fabricator has other adjacent fabricators to it and we don't want to pull from those.

 

[budge]

I always forget about item filters. By the way, did you know you can move routers with portal and gravity guns? They keep their upgrades and configuration, and still work afterwards too! Saved me lots of time while planning a crystallizer processing line.

 

[Paperboy]

just wanted to say: brilliant post with a real nice style.

 

[SynysterBear]

Fucking cool. Great work.

 

[AlanEsh]

I thought the scaffold trick was nerfed?

 

[DriftinFool]

You could take it one step farther by using TE sawmills to get 6 planks per log as well as sawdust which can be compressed and burned for additional fuel.

 

[MilConDoin]

I thought the scaffold trick was nerfed?

He uses DW20 -> no GregTech -> no Scaffolding nerf.
In a GT environment just use a sawmill for maximizing gain. I haven't done the math, if the TE sawmill or the GT sawmill would produce more EU, when all the energy used for intermediate steps has been substracted.
Bonus for TE sawmill + powered furnace (for the charcoal): cheaper to build.
Bonus for GT sawmill: Uses EU which is produced here.

 

[NosePicker5555]

Looks nice Good job on the editing work ;D

 

[hotblack desiato]

and how about this system:

take the wood, use the TE or GT sawmill
pump the planks into a solid fuelbox boiler (size 36)
feed the steam into the same system as your biofuelboiler does
use a big xycraft tank for the steam, with lots of inlet valves on the top, and sets of outletvalves on different heights of the boiler.
low level valves: output to most important machines
medium level valves: other machines that should work
top level valves: machines that eat up all the steam which you don't need.
the top level is connected to a powercrystal-energyconverter to convert it to EU. if you don't have one, use a bunch of steam turbines. (same system but eats steel).

 

[San]

Good stuff, but you can still get more bang for your buck out of that wood. I have a surprisingly similar setup, minus the autocrafting scaffolds (I'm playing mindcrack). I turn my logs into charcoal and then feed them to a set of boilers. The charcoal lasts ~5 seconds in a fully heated boiler, which is enough to keep 17 industrial steam engines running full time.

17*8=136 BJ/t
136*20 ticks=2720 BJ/second
2720*5=13600 BJ/charcoal

Then I route the joules to magma crucibles being fed with cobblestone.

13600 BJ/24000 = .533 lava per charcoal
.5333 lava * 30000 EU (Thermal generator) = 17,000 EU/Charcoal

The magma crucibles and thermal generators will pretty much eat up any energy you give them as quickly as you can supply it, so the chokepoint here is how many boilers and steam engines you can build.

 

[Whovian]

Might I say, absolutely brilliant job with Autocrafting Tables and Fabricators?

 

[dutchwarbandit]

Good stuff, but you can still get more bang for your buck out of that wood. I have a surprisingly similar setup, minus the autocrafting scaffolds (I'm playing mindcrack). I turn my logs into charcoal and then feed them to a set of boilers. The charcoal lasts ~5 seconds in a fully heated boiler, which is enough to keep 17 industrial steam engines running full time.

17*8=136 BJ/t
136*20 ticks=2720 BJ/second
2720*5=13600 BJ/charcoal

Then I route the joules to magma crucibles being fed with cobblestone.

13600 BJ/24000 = .533 lava per charcoal
.5333 lava * 30000 EU (Thermal generator) = 17,000 EU/Charcoal

The magma crucibles and thermal generators will pretty much eat up any energy you give them as quickly as you can supply it, so the chokepoint here is how many boilers and steam engines you can build.

If you use netherrack it coste only 12000 joules for each lava.
13600/12000= 1,1333 lava for each charcoal. 1,1333 * 30000 eu = 33.999 eu/Charcoal

 

[Wekmor]

If you use netherrack it coste only 12000 joules for each lava.
13600/12000= 1,1333 lava for each charcoal. 1,1333 * 30000 eu = 33.999 eu/Charcoal

The thing is that you can create cobblestone for free with Igneour Extruders. For netherrack you would have to set up a quarry or whatever in the nether

 

[dutchwarbandit]

The thing is that you can create cobblestone for free with Igneour Extruders. For netherrack you would have to set up a quarry or whatever in the nether

true but you can mine netherrack very fast so you can collect a bunch and store it.

 

[MaryuZ]

OK so I see that the discussion is getting off track.
The main idea of the thread was to get rid of all the wood that piles up.
The second idea was to show a contraption....it's about how it works not about efficiency...i chose to do the scaffolds thing because it made it more interesting rather than just charring the wood and burning it.
The third idea was to show/describe the process i went through in creating the contraption....that's what gives me satisfaction in the end...if EU/UU matter production would give me satisfaction my bank of geothermals would keep me in a constant state of extasy...
The fourth and final idea of the thread was to show a bit of "Thinking outside the box"....by discussing how one could get even more EU/wood you're thinking inside the box.
Now let me show you one more time how it's done:

Spoiler: Ultimate wood to EU conversion

Step 1:
Take your wood and using a Forestry carpenter convert it to pulp then paper...like so:

Step 2:
Make the paper into a book then a quill and book like so:

Step 3:
Take a peek outside the box...like so:

Step 4:
Now take a brave step outside the box.

And there you have it....wood to EU conversion at 1 000 000 EU / Wood.

 

[Hydra]

I'm sorry but turning wood into scaffolds really isn't thinking out of the box. It's so inside the box that you mind find a dead or alive cat there.

 

[MaryuZ]

@Hydra: sorry but i have no idea how to quote you....but this reply is for you...
Maybe you are right.......but then again you are missing one key factor....so maybe you are wrong.
You see...the way I see things....the box is a dynamic concept...very much a function of time....it turns and shifts, it grows and shrinks....all in time
When I posted this thread ...this subforum had 6 threads in it.....all seeds and map downloads....
Now it's full of threads....many of them builds....so that is now in the box
Also at the time most of the people that were around me in the world of minecraft were stockpiling their wood...now most of the people that are around me in the world of minecraft are using their wood to get some form of energy, be it eu or mj.....so this is also in the box now.
Most important though, this thread shows the process of creating the build, from causes to initial idea to final result.
The other threads I see (I must admit I have not read them all yet) show only the build...some of them show instructions on how to replicate the build,...others offer the readily made build for download...but very few show the process of creating the build.
This is not only for threads here...I also see this trend in videos that show builds and other forums as well.
So this remains still outside the box....that's why i was pointing at the box....I want this in the box.....i want to see how other people think and how they create....by only seeing the creation i can only guess and that is very futile as it is subjective and you only apply your default thinking and consider that the creator did it as you would have done it if you would have thought of it before him.
That was the long version.....the short version would have been:
As stated above ("chose to do the scaffolds thing because it made it more interesting") ... This is not about turning wood into scaffolds.

 

[Hydra]

You're missing two points:
- The exploit that scaffolds give way too much energy has been known for a long time. Gregtech has been nerfing that for ages. Back when I was playing Tekkit it was already known and already people considered it a rather cheap exploit. Autocrafting scaffolds isn't a new thing a all I'm afraid.

- The cat in the box was a reference you obviously missed.

Last but not least: you quote someone of you just hit the reply button next to his post.