I have wanted to do something like this for a long time, and I have finally got around to it. This is a fairly low-tech, early-game smelting factory; ores go in, metal blocks come out, although it still doubles the output, so... yeah. Anyway, it was really fun to build (I'm better at making things work than making them look pretty), and here are some pictures if you want to make one as well.
This is the input chest for ores; they are pulled out by the ejector and are sent up the conveyor belt, where they will first be sorted.
Each item router pulls one type of ore from the top conveyor belt and sends it to the smeltery. From left to right, the ores pulled are lead, copper, aluminum, and iron. Anything else drops to the bottom layer.
This is the "bottom layer" talked about above; from left to right, the ores pulled are gold, silver, and tin.
The smeltery setup up-close; each smeltery is fueled with lava from the nether. Ores go into an item collector, which sends them to a vanilla hopper, which sends them to the smeltery. (Yes, the hopper needs to be there for it to work. Otherwise the ores don't start heating up until you open the GUI.)
Once the ores are in liquid form, they are pumped out of the smelteries and into tanks using good old-fashioned BuildCraft. A redstone pulse then activates the seared faucets to pour the molten metal into casting basins. (I chose to use basins instead of ingot casts for simplicity's sake.)
Although you can't see it in this picture, more vanilla hoppers pull the metal blocks from the casting basins, ejectors pull them from the hoppers and put them onto the final conveyor belt.
This is what I used to control the redstone. A RS clock generates the pulse, a piston T flip-flop slows it down, and the muffler keeps me from getting a headache. A comparator is used because I had no repeaters and was too lazy to make more.
And thus, the final result.
As I said before, this smelting factory is pretty low-tech and early game, but it was fun to build and debug, and to me this is what FTB is all about.
P.S. A note on the fire in the background: I had the (mis)fortune of my local oil spawn being hit by lightning. So then, fire happened. Lots and lots of fire. Luckily it doesn't spread past the oil or destroy it.
This is the input chest for ores; they are pulled out by the ejector and are sent up the conveyor belt, where they will first be sorted.
Each item router pulls one type of ore from the top conveyor belt and sends it to the smeltery. From left to right, the ores pulled are lead, copper, aluminum, and iron. Anything else drops to the bottom layer.
This is the "bottom layer" talked about above; from left to right, the ores pulled are gold, silver, and tin.
The smeltery setup up-close; each smeltery is fueled with lava from the nether. Ores go into an item collector, which sends them to a vanilla hopper, which sends them to the smeltery. (Yes, the hopper needs to be there for it to work. Otherwise the ores don't start heating up until you open the GUI.)
Once the ores are in liquid form, they are pumped out of the smelteries and into tanks using good old-fashioned BuildCraft. A redstone pulse then activates the seared faucets to pour the molten metal into casting basins. (I chose to use basins instead of ingot casts for simplicity's sake.)
Although you can't see it in this picture, more vanilla hoppers pull the metal blocks from the casting basins, ejectors pull them from the hoppers and put them onto the final conveyor belt.
This is what I used to control the redstone. A RS clock generates the pulse, a piston T flip-flop slows it down, and the muffler keeps me from getting a headache. A comparator is used because I had no repeaters and was too lazy to make more.
And thus, the final result.
As I said before, this smelting factory is pretty low-tech and early game, but it was fun to build and debug, and to me this is what FTB is all about.
P.S. A note on the fire in the background: I had the (mis)fortune of my local oil spawn being hit by lightning. So then, fire happened. Lots and lots of fire. Luckily it doesn't spread past the oil or destroy it.