"Balancing the output for input"

[TarXII]

Hi,

New to Factorio ... totally love it.

However, I've run into a problem that i thought i'd ask around if someone can help me solve.

I have a two lane output from my furnace's for copper and iron that ...



... i want to balance both lanes from over two mixed lanes on each side of my assembling machines for (as of now) science packs ...




... however i fail, no matter what nifty balancing setup i find online i cannot get it to alternate the sides of a two lane input.

I want to draw 1 copper from left lane then 1 copper from the right lane ... aso.

(Yes, i know im outputting over the current need of the factory)

[Mr. Tact]

I believe you are over-thinking this. Since red science packs required gears and copper plates, it makes more sense to put them together on a belt and not have "unnecessary" iron plates running next to factories making red science packs. Something like this makes more sense:

easy red science.jpg (172.55 KiB) Viewed 6537 times

[TarXII]

Maybe I should have shown how the full assembly line looks like now, it's not just science packs 1 being produced there. The thought is to produce 1-3 in this area. Preferably w/o dedicated resource belts.

[DaveMcW]

How could the lanes possibly become unbalanced? They are fed from an equally split ore belt.

If you are still worried, use the lane balancer on the top left of Mr. Tact's screenshot.

[Mr. Tact]

Okay, looking at this again I think I *might* understand what you are getting at and a possible problem. You have two types of side loading happening:

side loading belts.jpg (51.89 KiB) Viewed 6517 times

It has been my impression (not sure if it is true or not) that the side loading on the left, via the underground, has less throughput than the side loading on the right. If I'm right, that would cause a difference in the "output" side...

[TarXII]

Reason i am sideloading is to get all on one side, and the "false" underground belt was a solution to prevent belt priority on top belt lane.

I think the splitter is really the problem. But it might just be me that is don't fully understand how a splitter works.

It basically do not alternate the input over the output lanes ... it's more like it's dedicated to one of the lanes on the output side of the splitter.

I read somewhere that it was because the splitter was same colour as the input and not "fast" enough because of that but tried with yellow in belt to red splitter and yellow out belts and had the same result.

I would guess that this is really NAP when i up the production ... it's just one of them things that annoy the perfectionist in me. ^^

[Mcdt2]

Personally, I'd suggest something like this. Obviously, this is a picture of my smelter setup, but it would work well with iron and copper plate instead. As long as both sides of the science factory are using product at roughly similar rates, it will draw evenly from both lanes of the plate input.

[Mr. Tact]

I think the splitter is really the problem. But it might just be me that is don't fully understand how a splitter works.

Splitters take items from the input belts and alternately direct them to the two output belts *ON THE SAME SIDE* -- if the selected side is full, it will direct the item to the other belt, same side. This combined with inserters preference for taking items on the near side of a belt causes the uneven loads seen so often.

[TarXII]

I think the splitter is really the problem. But it might just be me that is don't fully understand how a splitter works.

Splitters take items from the input belts and alternately direct them to the two output belts *ON THE SAME SIDE* -- if the selected side is full, it will direct the item to the other belt, same side. This combined with inserters preference for taking items on the near side of a belt causes the uneven loads seen so often.

Rats. I thought it alternated in over possible out. Then I understand why I'm experiencing the problem I have.

[Muche]

Maybe you're looking for this lane balancer?

If one lane of the output is blocked/only one lane moves, it makes sure both input lanes move.

blueprint

Code: Select all

0eNqVlEtugzAQhq8SzaqVTIV5pMTL3KGrqqqAWJElY1vGTosQd+8QmpQ0bgUr8DD/Ny8PPVTSc2OFcsB6ELVWLbDXHlpxVKUcba4zHBgIxxsgoMpmPDlbqtZo66KKSwcDAaEO/BMYHUhAfBLWebRc9ZNHRGfKJKi8DdsaKZzjdiZLhzcCXDnhBJ9SPx+6d+WbCj0ZvVcTMLpFgVZjJIRE8VNOoMOXZBjT+IVI/qr7HkQnTIoJHoTl9fQtCUDTxdD4wgxQstWp0RAmX4uJQ5TtleJxOPZoNT7/LSq+7RMCvueuvTN+vFh3QZ5XB8GSF3CLxS2gP9R57gHmbiUz2FUarx1OcMR0ySJc9iBMSFZeWVwmXM7zCrPZj4aALFGGtn0pS1Vzu6ER3TzsX6KOS6k/HtHlxG079TXLknxb7OKiGIYvNFuOjA==

[TarXII]

Maybe you're looking for this lane balancer?

If one lane of the output is blocked/only one lane moves, it makes sure both input lanes move.

blueprint

Code: Select all

0eNqVlEtugzAQhq8SzaqVTIV5pMTL3KGrqqqAWJElY1vGTosQd+8QmpQ0bgUr8DD/Ny8PPVTSc2OFcsB6ELVWLbDXHlpxVKUcba4zHBgIxxsgoMpmPDlbqtZo66KKSwcDAaEO/BMYHUhAfBLWebRc9ZNHRGfKJKi8DdsaKZzjdiZLhzcCXDnhBJ9SPx+6d+WbCj0ZvVcTMLpFgVZjJIRE8VNOoMOXZBjT+IVI/qr7HkQnTIoJHoTl9fQtCUDTxdD4wgxQstWp0RAmX4uJQ5TtleJxOPZoNT7/LSq+7RMCvueuvTN+vFh3QZ5XB8GSF3CLxS2gP9R57gHmbiUz2FUarx1OcMR0ySJc9iBMSFZeWVwmXM7zCrPZj4aALFGGtn0pS1Vzu6ER3TzsX6KOS6k/HtHlxG079TXLknxb7OKiGIYvNFuOjA==

Thanks! Will try it out later today!