Tinkers Con Smeltery

[Sigma85]

This is the easiest and cheapest way to double ones ores in the early game IMO. I was wondering if anyone knows:
A.: A really good way to automate it.
B.: How to use the "adaptive code" if enabled in the config
C.: Any good screenies/vids of a cool looking building setup for a smeltery

I just cant seem to make these things fit into any normal building without being in the way or just outside out of they way, but looking strange. For once I am trying to build things aesthetically as possible, but witht the smeltery, it seems hard to me because I use all 4 sides and it has to just be in the middle of everything to do that. I was thinking about using bibliocrafts shelves to hold all the different casts and maybe tanks, I just want it to look "nice". Maybe like an old blacksmith or something...idk...And put all the TC tables next to it somewhere to make a tool workshop...But I keep just building the smeltery and placing everything around it and it turns into an eyesore...

 

[MoosyDoosy]

You don't need to use all four sides. You can have it be the wall of one of your basements, and have the controller behind the wall hidden. Then you can direct all ores from your sorting system into a chest into a hopper into the controller. (pipes might just work, never tested it, never used it to automate). Then it doubles and you can have either redstone clocks on top of the faucets or have fluiducts pouring directly into the cast. (Don't know if the fluiducts work, but the clocks make the faucets constantly output. If the fluiducts work, you can even make them specifically outport certain metals if you want to.) If your basement is large, don't worry because the smeltery can have variable size as of 1.6 to my belief.

 

[Sigma85]

Thank you SOOO much ! I didnt know this, I had an inkling but I wasnt sure. I don't suppose you have a screen of behind the wall ? Does it still need to be a rectangle of some sort ?

 

[Tristam Izumi]

A warning with setting up automation: be careful about metals that mix! Copper + tin, gold + silver, and iron + ferrous all give alloys that aren't easily undone, so if you want it totally automated, it's a good idea to set up two smelteries and separate the metals that do mix. If you have Metallugy3 in as well (and ExtraTiC on top of that), that adds even more combinations of metals that can be mixed and may require even more separate smelteries if you want pure metal automation.

Fluiducts do work and are super fast. For automation, it's a good idea to either set up multiple casting tables with ingot casts in parallel or casting basins with one whitelisted metal per fluiduct+basin combo so you don't get all your basins filled with 1 ingot worth of the same metal and a backfill of some other metal inside the smeltery.

 

[Sigma85]

You know I DID search for this before posting, but look what I just unearthed:
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/tinkers-construct-smeltery-automation.31551/

After a little research, I decided to just build a smeltery as fast as possible to get the benefits and work on making it look good later. That being said, I think if anyone has some nice looking smelteries, now would be a good time to share them, that way in the future I will have some ideas for automation and aesthetics, lol.

 

[snooder]

The problem with automating the TCon smeltery is that by the time you are in a position to really automate and do something fun with it, you already likely have a better ore processing system through IC2 or TE.

I've always wanted to try putting all my ore processing through TCon, but it would require at least 2 smelteries (and possibly more) just to prevent allows from mixing inadvertently. And even then it'd still be substantially slower than processing through TE or IC2. I do use a smeltery to turn cobblestone into smeltery bricks though. I like having a permanent and renewable source of black bricks.

 

[Sigma85]

Everyone keeps talking about speed, but when things are set up to be automated, shouldnt they be on all the time ? And if they're not on all the time, then couldn't you control which materials you placed in the system in order to control the alloy you will be getting ? And if they system IS running all the time, how fast does it really need to be ? I have never understood the purpose of having hundreds of stacks of each material, that just reminds me of EE2 and Condensers, aka creative survival. In most LPs I've seen, when we're talking about fully automated processing, THAT is usually how it ends up...

If I need something to be done super fast, I usually go for IC2 and alot of upgrades, granted I havent made it there in the tech tree yet this time around, but I assume you can still make macerators and E-furnaces pretty quick if you want to right ? Throw in GregTech and automate it, I think having ores muliplied and processed super fast should require some infrastructure and alot of work to get there

 

[hiroshi42]

For me, the speed aspect is more that I don't play on a server so my ore processing time is limited to the time I play, so while it can run in the background it's not got 22 hours to get stuff done while I'm not around. Although TiCo smeltery is probably the easiest thing to make faster, just make the smeltery bigger, add in more drains and filter the fluiducts properly. You might get some casts partially filled but the most you are going to have stuck in limbo at any one time is the number of drains you have. When you get to that point are you really going to worry about having 2-3 ingots stuck in the system, especially since it is going to come out eventually.

I did have an automated smeltery set up a while ago, but it was primarily for smelting Iron golems from farms. Thermal Expansion really makes it easy though, you just need some servos and some flui- and itemducts. Itemducts can sort ores so they go to the right smeltery to prevent mixing. You will also probably want 3 smelteries in total, one for iron, copper, silver, cobalt and one for tin, gold, aluminum, ardite. Lead can probably go anywhere. The third smeltery would be the one you are using to make tools unless you just want to shut down production while you make them.
The only problem with an all TiCo ore processing that I can think of is ferrous ore. It can be processed in the smeltery but you won't get any shiny metal out of it. So the only way you would get shiny metal/platinum is with nether platinum ore (unless someone else adds it as well) or bees.

Spoiler: And for the last bit about wanting complex stuff for multiple ingots per ore

IC2 has actually gotten a bit complex with it's ore processing although you can still get a basic doubling with just the macerator. To get things to run quick requires a bit more work and will require even more once machines start blowing up again.
If you want complexity that has high rewards look at Mekanism, I think it is up to 5x ore processing but each stage gets more complex, 2x is a basic machine 3x is 2 more machines, one of which requires a secondary fuel 4x is another machine that requires some other external input 5x involves making brine in a large multiblock which is turned into something else with the help of a hole heap of machines.
Rotarycraft also has 5x (well 5.08 but who's counting). Although the actual block that does the processing is simple, requireing just power and water, to get the power that it needs to run efficiently is a whole complex process and an investment in materials and time.

 

[MacAisling]

I plan on making the smeltery my primary ore processing system this go around, but I'll be using a pulverizer to get that little bit extra & feeding the dust into the smeltery. I'll also be saving the ferrous ore for the TE process that guarantees shiny ingots. I don't mind a little accidental alloy, as I will usually need the more common ones pretty soon. The TE ducts work very well, but you need a separate line for each fluid you want to filter. Rapid switching between fluids can confuse the ducts & they stop working, leaving your smeltery filling with more & more molten metals & more likely to make tons of alloy. See this? Bad idea. Don't do it this way. You have been warned.

If you hook the pulverizer directly to the smeltery controller, the little bit of ferrous dust you get from pulverizing iron will usually be mixed with the iron into enough invar for your early game needs.

 

[kaovalin]

I really only have TiC smeltery around to reclaim the metals in armor and tools I find in loot chests around the world. After I made all my tools I really didnt have much else for it to do. FZ is also better at multiplying Cobalt and Ardite FYI. Close to or above tripling your ore with the full process. Does require a semi large iron/silver/lead investment.

 

[MoosyDoosy]

As a note, I think the TiC is also a little bugged where the molten metal far exceeds the top of the smeltery when there are a lot of metal stored.

I plan on making the smeltery my primary ore processing system this go around, but I'll be using a pulverizer to get that little bit extra & feeding the dust into the smeltery. I'll also be saving the ferrous ore for the TE process that guarantees shiny ingots. I don't mind a little accidental alloy, as I will usually need the more common ones pretty soon. The TE ducts work very well, but you need a separate line for each fluid you want to filter. Rapid switching between fluids can confuse the ducts & they stop working, leaving your smeltery filling with more & more molten metals & more likely to make tons of alloy. See this? Bad idea. Don't do it this way. You have been warned.

If you hook the pulverizer directly to the smeltery controller, the little bit of ferrous dust you get from pulverizing iron will usually be mixed with the iron into enough invar for your early game needs.

Gasp! So that's what Peter's dad was spending his time on! Oscorp's new ore processing line! (If you look at the name on the top right, it says Richard Parker.)

 

[Sigma85]

I really only have TiC smeltery around to reclaim the metals in armor and tools I find in loot chests around the world. After I made all my tools I really didnt have much else for it to do. FZ is also better at multiplying Cobalt and Ardite FYI. Close to or above tripling your ore with the full process. Does require a semi large iron/silver/lead investment.

I never have tried FZ, it always seemed to contain functionality that I already had multiples of already. I had always been stuck on IC2 and its uprgadability, but they may be changing soon...

 

[tedyhere]

In my low tech pack I made a smeltery for each ore that were automated using railcraft unloaders, transfer nodes, and railcraft loaders. The cart would bring the ores down the line to each smeltery and than come back and pick up what was ready Worked brilliantly.

 

[MacAisling]

As a note, I think the TiC is also a little bugged where the molten metal far exceeds the top of the smeltery when there are a lot of metal stored.

Gasp! So that's what Peter's dad was spending his time on! Oscorp's new ore processing line! (If you look at the name on the top right, it says Richard Parker.)

And yet so many of my builds look like something thrown together by Doc Oc... I can verify the bug. The visual fluid level was 2x as high as the smeltery when I shut down the input & gave up on the design shown. It just never stops smelting new ores. In another thread someone was talking about smelting aluminum blocks & getting something else (bugged & unusable) back. I have never actually gotten the smeltery to finish melting a full block. After a half hour AFK, I went to the crafting bench for ingots & smelted those instead.

 

[Taiine]

http://images.devs-on.net/Image/7eZdFV2bYSz2PRib-Region.png

While not yet finished, that there is the current 'forge' area I'm working on. The TC smeltery is stuffed back into a corner and outlined in marble brick, the top of it carves up into the rood by another 4 or so blocks with room to go up even higher if I dig out more and the rest of it is incased into the walls of the forge. It use to be more so, but I unearthed a bit more to allow three points to work from on one side and a 'window' on the other to see the metals floating inside. Plus I liked the marble edging.

The nooks will have all my obsidian chests once I've made room for the sorting pipes and the back wall will have a classic cobble gen with a block breaker to generate cobble as needed that in turn will be melted down to form lava to power the smeltery.

I haven't even gotten to the microblock accents yet xD

 

[kaovalin]

http://images.devs-on.net/Image/7eZdFV2bYSz2PRib-Region.png

While not yet finished, that there is the current 'forge' area I'm working on. The TC smeltery is stuffed back into a corner and outlined in marble brick, the top of it carves up into the rood by another 4 or so blocks with room to go up even higher if I dig out more and the rest of it is incased into the walls of the forge. It use to be more so, but I unearthed a bit more to allow three points to work from on one side and a 'window' on the other to see the metals floating inside. Plus I liked the marble edging.

The nooks will have all my obsidian chests once I've made room for the sorting pipes and the back wall will have a classic cobble gen with a block breaker to generate cobble as needed that in turn will be melted down to form lava to power the smeltery.

I haven't even gotten to the microblock accents yet xD

I like what you did with the lava dropping through the ceiling. I may steal that.

 

[Sigma85]

-snip-

I like what you did with the lava dropping through the ceiling. I may steal that.

I also like that. Microblocks can really make things look amazing. You should update us when you finish with a screeny

 

[Morberis]

The Ingot Caster from Mariculture works perfectly for this. Output from the smltery via a fluiduct into an ingot caster, outputs ingots instead of blocks and it can handle a lot more fluid than a single ingot cast.

 

[Sigma85]

When I enable the adaptive smeltery code in the config, the smeltery wont allow me to place ores into the controller, and if I toss em in from the top they just sit there...Whats goin on here ???

 

[Mevansuto]

When I enable the adaptive smeltery code in the config, the smeltery wont allow me to place ores into the controller, and if I toss em in from the top they just sit there...Whats goin on here ???

Last time I used it, it was really buggy and I don't think they ever got around to fixing it.