My second factory (lots of coal) (very lengthy)

[pajrc1234]

So I got this game on the 31st and decided to start building a factory.
It was pretty good, but I decided I needed something better (so then I created another world and made a better one)
Here it is:

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That should be it anyway (this is the best I can do for my second factory and early in the game)
It first takes iron and copper and smelts it.
Then, it makes gears and copper cables, but spares some of the plates.
Using some gears and all the cables, it makes electronic circuits (which is in a tight spot so I have to manually grab it on the conveyor to spare it)
Part of the other source of the gears (spares some) and makes Science Pack 1s (w/ copper plates, of course), and moves them to get ready for the labs (2 labs at the moment, when I need a third pack and/or alien packs then I'll move them)
It uses those circuits, some of the gears and some of the iron plates (I used multiple mining drills to makes sure I get enough for a steady production)
Now I get inserters.
Then I mass produce transport belts, some of which get spared while others go to make Science Pack 2s, which get sent to the other side of the belt that has the first science packs.
Anything except for gears and iron plates will definitely be spared and are sorted by smart inserters.
Some of those two ARE spared, just there's a 50/50 chance for each side.
Leftover iron plates get pulled into a splitter which will either allow the plate to keep going to the sorters or go up to another splitter, one side making pipes and the other making steel.
They then go along as normal.
However, ALL spares that are before one part are pulled into a splitter, so some of the non-gears, pipes or steel will go either way.
The gears, pipes and steel also have a chance to be spared here, too, if they are pulled into the sorting path.
For all leftovers put in the other path, there is a smart inserter and a regular inserter.
The smart inserter takes gears, pipes and steel to go make engine units.
There's a small chance for each material to get out (in case of overflow).
It goes through multiple splitters, and if it gets the "stray" part of the splitter four times, it's free.
If it gets the part of the splitter where it lines up with the input even once, it goes back to the start where it can be pulled by the inserters to make engine units if needed.
The engine units and the free materials go back through the same thing (and the free ones may be pulled back into the engine unit making process).
The inserter (regular) on that same path just takes the non-gear, pipes or steel materials and puts them back on track.
The inserter is sure to not take any of the engine unit materials because it is about 1/2 the speed of the smart inserter (right?).
The bottom is a coal mine, which overflows its entire conveyor.
It also picks up some spare transport belts, and both items get put into a steel chest, which acts as a buffer for the sorting system.
Some of the coal gets picked up by smart inserts, and it takes it to put coal in the copper and iron furnaces.
Which reminds me: I HAVE TOO MUCH COAL
LOOK AT THIS:

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SO MUCH FREAKING COAL
YOU KNOW THAT BUFFER CHEST I WAS TALKING ABOUT
COMPLETELY FILLED WITH COAL MOST OF THE TIME
sorry 'bout that, that was just me in utter shock (also the coal is getting so annoying, it clogs up the system)
In the first screenshot, you may have noticed that I was researching flight.
That way I can get logistics robots and get rid of my freaking annoying coal problem.

Anyway, that's my second factory (for now!)
sorry if this is a little too much
EDIT: I realized that even if I put a fast inserter for the engine unit material thing the smart inserter will still have enough time to pick up the materials.

[brunzenstein]

just convert the coal into batteries and your problem is solved

[pajrc1234]

How do you convert coal into batteries?
Batteries are made with sulfuric acid and iron & copper plates.

[brunzenstein]

How do you convert coal into batteries?
Batteries are made with sulfuric acid and iron & copper plates.

Sorry " my mistake. I meant plastic bars, also explosives are in need of coal.

[Evan_]

I feel there's a really simple solution to your problem that many of us could pinpoint if we were walking in your factory. Sadly, the image here is pretty small, and can't follow it even with the lengthy description of what's happening.

But I wouldn't put something on a belt that doesn't really belong there, expecting inserters to take it 100% of the time. It -might- be possible, but outputs fluctuate, so as power. Unless it's some challenge map, there must be enough space -somewhere- to use multiple belts instead. But half if not all the fun is figuring such things out yourself. I'm sure you are having it.

[pajrc1234]

The only place where coal appears is the bottom, where I get all of the coal and insert it into boilers, the bottom right, where it's sorted (it's good now, thanks to research of plastic!), and the right/top right where some are transported into the copper plate furnaces.