So far I typically used a row of science labs with two belts on each side and 4 inserters (2xyellow, 2xred) for each lab to feed them. However now I thought that there must be a better option and created a sushi belt. While I found a number of similar creations, the ones I found were a little different then mine, so here I'd like to share my version:
Here is a sample setup. The chests on the far right simulate science pack generation and are not included in the blueprint:
The upsides in my opinion are:
- It is really simple. No combinators needed. Only the red inserters have a simple on/off trigger (when buffer chest has <10 items). I think it is much easier to understand than many other solutions.
- It is very robust (it won't lock up, it repairs itself, e.g. if one type of science pack is temporarily unavailable).
- It can be easily extended with more labs (just make a bigger loop)
The downside is, that it is using buffering chests and thus quite a number of inserters. Less significant, but a nevertheless a small drawback: It is not perfectly balanced. A generated sequence is 8 science packs long, contains one pack of each type, plus an extra white one.
Simple science pack sushi belt
Re: Simple science pack sushi belt
In my sushi mixer I used interesting fact: 7 blue inserters, trimmed to 1 item per swing, fill the blue belt decently enough. It works for yellow belt and yellow inserters too. Belt isn't used to the full capacity, unlike in your design, but can handle up to 250 SPM on blues and something like 90 on yellows. It somewhat tileable (up to 1k SPM), but can work only with half-belts on the input.