I've tried to find one of these and I failed. But don't get angry...it's most likely because my definitions of simple and elegant are different from yours. I'm looking at some design specifics too.
I'm trying to setup some automated crafting for a mostly RP-tube based network. The example is a seed oil farm using melon seeds below the actual melon farm. Due to the number of melon slices produced this farm also supports a separate melon slice-to-methane tube network, but I only mention this because I pull from the barrel bottom for this separate network, so the melon slice barrel bottom is unavailable for a filter/sorting machine/etc.
Tubes bring in the melon slices and deliver the seeds to the squeezers. I'd prefer to use the Autocrafting Table (ACT) because of it's ability to pull from attached inventories. I've tried to puzzle out a method whereby slices are automatically inserted into the ACT, seed extraction does not spill out into air, and seed creation may be stopped when seed container(s) is/are full. I'd also prefer NOT to use Blutricity or timers. I feel automating something as simple as this should be readily available early in-game and I do not consider Blutricity machines easily obtainable early. I also have difficulty fitting the Blu power gen into my designs.
The solution I came up with seems very awkward, but it meets all my criteria except for the single use of a timer...and a few iron gates (I don't consider BC gates of any variety early-game, but it was the best solution I could think of).
-ACT is placed on the left side of the barrel. This allows ACT to pull slices from the barrel without any additional tubing/piping.
-Seed storage barrel is placed one block further left and 2 blocks below the ACT. BC pipes connect the ACT and the storage barrel. Iron AND Gates are placed in each pipe. Gates are connected via pipe wire. Gate connected to barrel is set to "If Inventory is Full - Pipe Wire ON". Gate connected to ACT is set to "If Pipe wire OFF - Energy Pulse".
-Filter is placed below seed storage barrel and set to eject down. Filter is triggered using default 2s timer
-Relay is placed below filter and set to eject down.
-Tube networks below relay consist of tube line out to squeezers, and restricted return back into the relay.
Behaviour of system:
BC pipes/gates allow crafting to be controlled based on level of seeds in storage barrel.
Restricted return into relay allows seeds to exit the tube network when squeezers are full and will cause the filter to back up, thereby allowing the barrel to fill and halt seed production.
Seed production will stop short of filling the barrel without spilling any seeds out of the system.
Modification:
I just realized the ACT extraction system is too slow to keep up with a single Biogas-powered squeezer. I can replace the BC gates with a Biogas engine use the backed-up filter as a trigger to stop the engine, but I'm not sure if seeds will spill out or not yet.
Anyway as I said before, this method works but it seems ungainly. I've built autocrafting stuff in the past using timers, but it seems that unless I get the timings just right, either the system runs out of something and it grinds to a halt or there are too many items going around are the system gets clogged. Ideally, I'd like an autocrafting table that pulls from adjacent inventories AND automatically ejects crafted objects unless it's told not to. I think my solution is as simple as I can make it, but not too elegant. Any better ideas out there?
I'm trying to setup some automated crafting for a mostly RP-tube based network. The example is a seed oil farm using melon seeds below the actual melon farm. Due to the number of melon slices produced this farm also supports a separate melon slice-to-methane tube network, but I only mention this because I pull from the barrel bottom for this separate network, so the melon slice barrel bottom is unavailable for a filter/sorting machine/etc.
Tubes bring in the melon slices and deliver the seeds to the squeezers. I'd prefer to use the Autocrafting Table (ACT) because of it's ability to pull from attached inventories. I've tried to puzzle out a method whereby slices are automatically inserted into the ACT, seed extraction does not spill out into air, and seed creation may be stopped when seed container(s) is/are full. I'd also prefer NOT to use Blutricity or timers. I feel automating something as simple as this should be readily available early in-game and I do not consider Blutricity machines easily obtainable early. I also have difficulty fitting the Blu power gen into my designs.
The solution I came up with seems very awkward, but it meets all my criteria except for the single use of a timer...and a few iron gates (I don't consider BC gates of any variety early-game, but it was the best solution I could think of).
-ACT is placed on the left side of the barrel. This allows ACT to pull slices from the barrel without any additional tubing/piping.
-Seed storage barrel is placed one block further left and 2 blocks below the ACT. BC pipes connect the ACT and the storage barrel. Iron AND Gates are placed in each pipe. Gates are connected via pipe wire. Gate connected to barrel is set to "If Inventory is Full - Pipe Wire ON". Gate connected to ACT is set to "If Pipe wire OFF - Energy Pulse".
-Filter is placed below seed storage barrel and set to eject down. Filter is triggered using default 2s timer
-Relay is placed below filter and set to eject down.
-Tube networks below relay consist of tube line out to squeezers, and restricted return back into the relay.
Behaviour of system:
BC pipes/gates allow crafting to be controlled based on level of seeds in storage barrel.
Restricted return into relay allows seeds to exit the tube network when squeezers are full and will cause the filter to back up, thereby allowing the barrel to fill and halt seed production.
Seed production will stop short of filling the barrel without spilling any seeds out of the system.
Modification:
I just realized the ACT extraction system is too slow to keep up with a single Biogas-powered squeezer. I can replace the BC gates with a Biogas engine use the backed-up filter as a trigger to stop the engine, but I'm not sure if seeds will spill out or not yet.
Anyway as I said before, this method works but it seems ungainly. I've built autocrafting stuff in the past using timers, but it seems that unless I get the timings just right, either the system runs out of something and it grinds to a halt or there are too many items going around are the system gets clogged. Ideally, I'd like an autocrafting table that pulls from adjacent inventories AND automatically ejects crafted objects unless it's told not to. I think my solution is as simple as I can make it, but not too elegant. Any better ideas out there?