Thermal Expansion 3: Managing cyclic assembler inventories?

[SpinningWelshman]

Ok, so cyclic assemblers are brilliant for simple crafting, but how in the world do I stop their inventories from getting clogged when I need more than one item for a recipe?

Say I want to make sandy blocks from railcraft. I would have to send it clay bricks and sand, but how do I stop the inventory filling up with one of them and blocking the other?

I'd really appreciate any help!

 

[Automation2000]

What mod pack are you using

 

[SpinningWelshman]

Currently one of my own devising. The reason I'm using this forum is that the thermal expansion threads have been locked, and this seems the best place for knowledgeable advice. I lack many of the dominant tech mods, though I have extra utilities, and applied energistics.

 

[Golrith]

You need some method for regulating inventories. TE by itself doesn't offer this.

Your sandy brick example you might as well just stick to using AE and it's MAC crafting system. Cyclic Assembler best use is with recipes that require fluids (buckets of a liquid). In that situation, setup a pattern with AE as normal, stick an ME Interface block next to CA, rotate the interface to point at the CA, and configure the input sides of the CA. Now your AE system will show it can craft said item, and it'll send to the CA the materials needed to craft said item one item worths of resources at a time.

Another good option is to to use the Translocator mod. You can have 2 chests with the raw materials, and tell the translocator to keep one of each resource in the CA. The CAs internal inventory won't then clog up.

 

[SpinningWelshman]

So I understand you correctly, if I connect the assembly to the AE network I can autocraft in AE using the assembler? I had no idea that was possible. That's fantastic.

 

[Golrith]

Yep. Take a look at http://ae1.ae-mod.info/ME-Interface/. Gives an example of making glass using a vanilla furnace, but requestable from within AE.

 

[JeremyTheObscure]

There is a way to do it with just TE items, but it is kind of finicky. The basic principle is to have the item ducts take items out of storage at the ratio they are used in the crafting recipe. Assuming you are producing at least one of the precursors slower than your cyclic assembler can run, you will need to use redstone to turn off the itemduct when to keep it from emptying one precursor dry and then filling up the CA inventory with the other(s).

For example, I have a set up to combine ash with apatite to create fertilizer (8 ash, 1 apatite). The limiting precursor is the ash, which is burnt from peat produced by my sludge boiler. So, I have a comparator on the ash chest. When it reaches a certain fulness, it turns on the itemduct taking out of both the ash storage and the apatite storage, in stacks of 8 and 1, respectively, and sends them to the cyclic assembler. Once the ash is removed, the chest drops back below the threshold needed to trigger the itemduct.

 

[Loufmier]

golems from thaumcrat, can supply inventorys with set number of items(i.e. no more than a stack of specified item), same goes for supplier pipe from LP.
i also remember limiting number of items stored by storage AE'S bus in the inventory, so this also can be used to prevent inventory clogging.

 

[Omegatron]

Extra utilities restrictive transfer pipes would also work here.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Translocators, Golems, Logistics Pipes will all do this

 

[Russdee75]

can an ME interface not be told to keep specific amounts in the adjacent inventory?

 

[Omegatron]

can an ME interface not be told to keep specific amounts in the adjacent inventory?

It cannot, only in itself.