Automating Complex Recipes with AE

[d34dl0ck]

Hello all,

I am hoping to find some information on how to better automate my factory with Applied Energistics, namely the more complex recipes like Steel in the Industrial Blast Furnace and making wire in the Automatic Wiremill (which side is the input side?!). I know you can use the ME Interface to supply specific patterns to a machine, but how would that work on those machines that take two items, Refined Iron and Coal Dust for steel, for example, or mixed alloy ingots in the rolling machine? Is this even possible? I have only started with AE recently, so its probably something dumb. Appreciate any tips the community can provide.

Thanks!

 

[CrissHill]

usually if there are 2 slots, top slots input from top and bottom slots input from bottom.

 

[DriftinFool]

I don't think you could make it work with the rolling machine, but it is easy with the GT machines. You make a pattern like you would for auto crafting. Make a pattern with 1 iron and 2? coal dust in the recipe slots like normal, then put a steel ingot into the output box. Click encode. You place an ME interface on top of the machine. When you open the GUI on it, there are a row of slots that say processing. Place your pattern here. Instead of using extra resources, use another ME interface instead of an import bus on any machine that auto ejects to an inventory like pipes or a chest and it will auto feed into your AE system. The automatic GT machines eject to the back by default. You can change this with a wrench by clicking the side you want to output to. You can now select how many you want to craft and make sure you have the resources to do it.

 

[CrissHill]

AFAIK steel is automated by inputting coal dust from bottom and refined iron from top. I'm not sure what you'd need pattern for it since it's not a crafting recipe. Industrial blast furnace just has 2 input slots.

 

[d34dl0ck]

I understand that you can pump items into the bottom slot of the Blast furnace through the bottom of the machine. The issue then is that not all BF recipes call for something to be in there. For instance, Steel takes Refined Iron and Coal Dust, but Aluminum does not. I will try to see if a simple setup with the ME Interface will work, One Refined Iron over one Coal dust makes Steel. Also, i did get the rolling machine added in. You create the pattern as normal in the encoder with 3 Refined Iron over 3 Bronze over 3 Tin(in my case). Place it on top of the Rolling Machine as normal with the pattern in the processing slot. The trick is that you have to set up the rolling machine to create the alloy ingot as well, meaning you have to actually place the pattern in the machine as well. You will see when you craft it from the console that it adds the additional ingots required to make the Mixed Alloy Ingots to the right spot. Its a weird setup. I had found a video on how to do it on YouTube, actually.

As far as the wiremill, the output is not the issue. Its how to input into it. I have tried an ME Interface block on all sides except the back, but it doesn't send copper into it when i run the copper wire recipe.

 

[CrissHill]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you just set up a negative feedback loop using a Level Emitter to just keep enough of steel in your AE system all the time?

 

[d34dl0ck]

CrissHill,

Not really sure what that is. I just found out about AE and was trying to go that route, and finding about its tricks, caveats and limitations along the way. I appreciate the help and suggestions

 

[rushfan43]

Here is what I managed to do without interfaces. There is an export bus at the top and bottom on the furnace with level emitters attached. The level emitters sense when steel in the system is below a certain level and then emit a signal. The export bus (refined iron on top, coal dust on bottom) are set to export only with a signal. So when steel gets low materials are put in the furnace. Also, there's and import bus to get the steel out of course. The only downside with this system is that because the furnace takes a while to cook, a lot of materials are injected and you end up with more steel that the set level. You may also have refined iron left in there since the recipe calls for 2 coal and 1 iron.

 

[Adonis0]

To solve this, it's a similar way to make tesseracts and energy conduits
Basically, you get the interface to output into a diamond pipe, and then from the diamond pipe you can then direct the iron upwards and the coal downwards.
This also allows for recipes that don't take coal dust because you can also direct aluminium upwards, but for an aluminium ingot only put aluminium dust in the recipe.