Mod spotlight will not tell you how to set up a sorting system properly, this is what I've done:
Chest (use this as a sorting chest to dump anything into and also quarry empties to this chest eventually via portal/rail cart)
Router 1 - place at side of this chest, upgrade with bandwidth, ejector and machine item upgrades.
- Set router 1 to Extract from
chest side, eject to
Router 2 side
Router 2 - place next to router 1, upgrade with bandwith and machine item upgrades
- Set router 2 to Insert into Top sides, and choose Barrel
Make sure all barrels you wish to sort into are somehow connected continuously from router 2.
Prepping the barrels - each barrel must be prepped before sorting can occur with an item, this has an advantage of letting you prioritise where items will be in in your barrel chain. So for instance in my setup I have my ingots closest to my work area and less used items further away.
Some screenies:
http://s9.postimage.org/x9zp9v6a7/2012_12_16_19_32_43.png
http://s15.postimage.org/j2osykvtn/2012_12_16_19_33_04.png
When you get to a corner you need a barrel in the junction, which will be out of sight and usability, I just put some rarely used item in here which can be anything
http://s10.postimage.org/bpxthr4vd/2012_12_16_19_33_24.png