How to make a material splitter

[zlosynus]

I was always thinking how to build something which could split resources in some ratio between several belts. For example, suppose you want to use a half of iron plates for wheels and the rest for circuits. Using circuits, I made a simple device which allows you to split material in any required ratio between any amount of plates. Here is it, a configuration which splits iron plates in the ratio 1:1:2 between three belts.



Can you guess how it works? So here is the spoiler. The first layer of smart inserters is inserting into their private chests if they contain less than 3 iron plates each (and you can replace even with one, it doesn't really matter). The bottom inserters are set up to take plates only if there are in total at least ten plates. But this is equivalent with being at least one plate in each chest, so all the chests are emptied at the same time. And as a side product, it looks really cool!

[vel-master]

this is not new system. You can look on my factory BUS design I used same system but without chests between the lines. Also I build it with larger scales and I can say that it system does't gives fair distribution. It gives priority for first inserters. If you vant to build more fair system better to use logistics robots with requester chests.

My factory
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... ?f=8&t=173

[kovarex]

this is not new system. You can look on my factory BUS design I used same system but without chests between the lines. Also I build it with larger scales and I can say that it system does't gives fair distribution. It gives priority for first inserters. If you vant to build more fair system better to use logistics robots with requester chests.

My factory
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... ?f=8&t=173

I have to defend zlosynus here.
This system he proposed here is different and it distributes exactly in the ratio he said (as long as output belts are not stucked)

[rk84]

this is not new system. You can look on my factory BUS design I used same system but without chests between the lines. Also I build it with larger scales and I can say that it system does't gives fair distribution. It gives priority for first inserters. If you vant to build more fair system better to use logistics robots with requester chests.

My factory
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... ?f=8&t=173

I think you are missing the point here. Smart chests are used to limit the input so first inserter don't take everything and output inserters are synchronise to take when they all can take. Inputs have separated networks (one smart inserter+ one smart chest). Outputs are all connected to all chests. This system should work even when input is low on materials.

[zlosynus]

I think you are missing the point here. Smart chests are used to limit the input so first inserter don't take everything and output inserters are synchronise to take when they all can take. Inputs have separated networks (one smart inserter+ one smart chest). Outputs are all connected to all chests. This system should work even when input is low on materials.

Exactly, this system is splitting in a precise ratio even when you are very low on material. As you can see in the example above, I insert iron into the system using slow inserters, but it is splitting in the exact ratio, all belts contain the same amount of stuff. This is a type of problem I was having in my factories for a long time that I couldn't divide the produced stuff equally between a few places. Of course, if you have all belts full of stuff like in your factory, you don't really need it, but this is useful even when you can't produce that much.

[vel-master]

this is not new system. You can look on my factory BUS design I used same system but without chests between the lines. Also I build it with larger scales and I can say that it system does't gives fair distribution. It gives priority for first inserters. If you vant to build more fair system better to use logistics robots with requester chests.

My factory
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... ?f=8&t=173

I think you are missing the point here. Smart chests are used to limit the input so first inserter don't take everything and output inserters are synchronise to take when they all can take. Inputs have separated networks (one smart inserter+ one smart chest). Outputs are all connected to all chests. This system should work even when input is low on materials.

You must be right. I think i need to learn smart - chests/inserters system

[vel-master]

Now I see how this system works! I think that red/green wires system is quite userful for factories with one coveyor belt design if yor can calculate how many materials/stuffs you need you can put axactly this amount of materials/stuffs on belt and it will'n stuck.

[Mysteria9]

Dang it, I was just about to make a thread explaining the same thing!
Anyways, it's a very useful design, nice work!

[wrtlprnft]

I like the concept, but I was wondering if there was a better way to set the ratio at which resources are split. If you wanted to split resources at an odd ratio, you would have to build a lot of chests.

So here's my design (set to split 7:3:5):



It's not obvious from the image how it works, so I'll try my best to explain what's going on: The resource being split is steel plates, but I'm using wood as a kind of semaphore. Each chest initially contains 1 piece of wood.

1. As long as the piece of wood is in the chest, the top inserter inserts steel into it.
2. When the desired amount of steel is in the chest, the right inserter removes its piece of wood.
3. As soon as all chests had their wood removed, the bottom inserter empties the chest.
4. If all chests are empty, the left inserter reinserts the wood.

I'm using green wire to track the total amount of goods in all chests and red wire to track the contents of the local chest, so the inserter settings are as follows:

• top: steel if red wire wood = 1
• right: wood if red wire steel = n (varies from chest to chest)
• bottom: steel if green wire wood < 1
• left: wood if green wire steel < 1

Note that you only have to modify the settings of one inserter to change the ratio, no construction necessary. The obvious drawback is that the maximum throughput is limited, because the chest can only be emptied or filled at the same time, not both. We really need bigger chests that can handle more inserters

[Mysteria9]

(---)

That's brilliant!

[Arakasi]

this is really cool "invention".
I wonder if other features like this can be invented

[schwarzie2478]

(---)

That's brilliant!

+1

[Zourin]

Nifty, but I don't really see where this is better than a multisplitter setup (thinking practically). Normally the only reason to use a disjointed belt-inserter system would be if you've got a 'garbage belt sorter' problem. Simple load-balancing is usually best done with splitters and varying the belt speeds.