Factorio Forums

This might be a stupid question but why is wood used for electronics anyways?

Well of course there were a lot of electronic devices with wood covers back in 70s (Atari, anyone?) But the circuit boards themselves? I find it quite weird that wood is used for them.

Mendel wrote:This might be a stupid question but why is wood used for electronics anyways?

Well of course there were a lot of electronic devices with wood covers back in 70s (Atari, anyone?) But the circuit boards themselves? I find it quite weird that wood is used for them.

actually, i'm not sure what is used currently for circuit boards, but they were made before from wooden celulose, so "wood->wooden board + copper->circuit board + electronic componets->actual board with circuits" is correct aproarch, if you don't min skipping circuite schema printing and board etching

i did such stuff a lot as kid, since i was interested in electronics, so making pocket radio and stuff.

Interesting. I had no idea!

Mendel wrote:Interesting. I had no idea!

something like this
http://www.robotplatform.com/howto/pcb% ... ing_5.html

although i supect, on photos, actual it's not wooden celulose, but probly newer polymer fiber board

nowadays wooden celulose fiber i don't think they use it anymore, since you can't do it such thin for multilayered boards (for example mainboards in computers usualy have from 10 up to 15 layers - in nineties they had 3-6, for homemade electronics, you usualy use single sided or double sided copper board )

well, you might see in bob electronics, that higher tier circuit boards involve using more materials (including gold, silicon and acids and some synthetic stuff), for basic inserter you can probly stick with single or double layered wooden copped board tho'

mind even old copper board were not wooden, since wood even dry is not best insulant, but if you make wooden celulose and make board from it (needs some aditives) it is good enough.

Basically, "Cheap" electronics boards are "Resin bonded card". it's like getting multiple sheets of paper, smothering them in glue(Resin), and pressing them together to set solid.

Basic electronic boards can literally be made by shaping copper, and sticking it to a piece of wood. (Very retro, very early/cheap electronic things)

So the idea behind using wood in my "Basic electronic board" is that you need something non-conductive to hold everything together. You can't stick it to a piece of metal because it'll short everything. So, early game non-metallic materials are basically Wood or Stone, and stone isn't as easy to work with to make something like that.


So my chain basically goes
Stick some bits of copper on a piece of wood. (Copper and wood)
Lay out copper on resin bonded cardboard (Wood, resin and copper)
Actually make a PCB (plastic and glass, and copper)

using Tin and Gold is a non-corrosive covering.

Thank you all for the explanations. Also providing that wood of course gives an interesting puzzle! (setting up the greenhouses)

I would suggest a change to the steel recipe: instead of sticking 2 pieces of iron( without carbon in it?) in a furnace and getting 1 piece of steel( with about 1% carbon in it), how about taking like 10 iron an a carbon and getting 10 steel out of it.

The steel recipe has been suggested before, and although it is known as an iron carbon alloy... in reality, what we consider "Iron" actually has more carbon in it than steel. The process of making steel actually purifies the iron to remove carbon content.

Adding carbon to iron to make steel is just a popular game mechanic, based on this misconception.



This is actually quite the popular request, so I have considered looking at a realistic steel manufacturing process and including it in my mod.

I think the iron in Factorio is wrough iron, which jas a lower carbon content than steel.

there is:
Wrought iron(<0.08% Carbon)
Carbon Steel(0.12-2% Carbon)
Cast Iron(~2-4% Carbon)
so we can decide if we want steel by adding or removing carbon.

Hi,

I'm using bob's vehicle equipment on an old save and I can't insert any equipment into my trains, though I do see the grid. Is there any research I need to unlock with a command or does this mod just not work on saves that weren't created with it enabled?

DaxNagtegaal wrote:Hi,

I'm using bob's vehicle equipment on an old save and I can't insert any equipment into my trains, though I do see the grid. Is there any research I need to unlock with a command or does this mod just not work on saves that weren't created with it enabled?

make sure you are trying to use the actual vehicle equipment that bobs adds, modular armor equipment won't work.

Nexela wrote:

DaxNagtegaal wrote:Hi,

I'm using bob's vehicle equipment on an old save and I can't insert any equipment into my trains, though I do see the grid. Is there any research I need to unlock with a command or does this mod just not work on saves that weren't created with it enabled?

make sure you are trying to use the actual vehicle equipment that bobs adds, modular armor equipment won't work.

I know, I've used it before on a different save. I'm trying to use the overdrive engine for my trains.

Are you using any other mods that change vehicle equipment grids?

Nexela wrote:Are you using any other mods that change vehicle equipment grids?

Well yeah, I have vehiclegrids installed, don't I need that to show the grid?

My grids are unique. Vehicle Grids mod likely adds their own grids different than my own, and if loads after mine (Which is likely, B comes before V) it will effectively delete my grid to add it's own, and as a result, my equipment won't fit in it.

bobingabout wrote:My grids are unique. Vehicle Grids mod likely adds their own grids different than my own, and if loads after mine (Which is likely, B comes before V) it will effectively delete my grid to add it's own, and as a result, my equipment won't fit in it.

Hi bob, thank you for taking the time to reply. I deleted VehicleGrids, but the problem persists. Also, my trains now only have a 2x2 grid, which even if I could put stuff in it, would be useless. I can upload my mods folder and my save if that would help.

The 2z2 grid is from FARL, Do you have the latest version? Farl is supposed to only add the grid if there is not already an existing grid but mod dependencies can mess it up.

Nexela wrote:The 2z2 grid is from FARL, Do you have the latest version? Farl is supposed to only add the grid if there is not already an existing grid but mod dependencies can mess it up.

I do have FARL but I don't use it. I'll uninstall it and report back. One moment.

Nexela wrote:The 2z2 grid is from FARL, Do you have the latest version? Farl is supposed to only add the grid if there is not already an existing grid but mod dependencies can mess it up.

I removed FARL and now there is no grid at all.