grinder pit set up

[CaveDweller]

I am not that experienced with making a grinder pit, though I had it in my mind that incorporating one would be a good idea. My initial set up essentially looks like an enlarged collector, complete with funnel sides and a hole in the middle. That hole is where I will be installing the grinders, and that is where I would like to learn from those who are more experienced with grinder pits. What have you found to be the ideal set up? I don't like the look of the blades sticking up past the bottom of the angled walls. Instead, I'm thinking of something more along the lines of a flat bottomed bowl, where the grinder blades are as flush as possible with the angled sides.

The options I thought of were:
1- full floor of grinder death
2- alternate between grinder and collector (grinder, collector, grinder, collector etc)
3- staggered grinder floor (every second grinder drops down by a block)
4- same as number 3, except all grinders that are lowered are replaced with collectors
5- having grinders on pistons with timer blocks randomly raising and lowering pistons, as if multiple fists were repeatedly punching or "massaging" an object into oblivion

What are your thoughts?

[CaveDweller]

Postat inițial de Capt Fuzzy:

It sounds to me like you are over-complicating a simple device...
My first grinder pit was basically just a wall of grinders that I then piped to a couple of large cargo boxes.
I put a wall around the outside as grinders do sometimes toss components, and a sensor to turn the grinders on whenever something got within the sensor's range.
This allowed me to just drop something into the pit, it would be ground down and the pit would shut off when nothing was left.

Oh I definitely am, I know. I came across the New Horizons Station though (which is what you see perched on stilts) and for some reason immediately a plot for my Pertam scrapyard play through. So the station is going to serve as a Prefecture Administrative Building (similar to a Provincial or State capital building). Since I found a warehouse as well, I plan on attaching the two somehow and whatever scrap is ground down will be send to the warehouse. I also found a service station and an apartment building. So the apartment building will serve as the local administrative building ( similar to a town hall), and the service station will house (and service) my Antares and possibly my Badger rovers, which will be responsible for completing cargo runs from the warehouse to the local administrative buildings. It also seemed like an interesting idea to me to have a small grid tilting deck trailer. I have no idea where these ideas are coming from, but I'm interested to see where they lead me.

[CaveDweller]

Postat inițial de Ronin Planetary Industries:

Grinder pits are very PCU intensive. They tend to be not very efficient. They will throw portions of whatever you are grinding OUT of the pit, no matter how tall you make the walls. There's a fair chance that your pit will damage itself as well. Small grid blocks and small large grid blocks will slip between the grinders and not get ground down. So you have to babysit the pit, else your 'crumbs" will despawn.

For the most part. They aren't worth the bother.

I was afraid of that =(. I had done a test run earlier and a section of conveyor tube from the ship I was grinding down got launched in the air and almost landed on me, I was not aware though that the pit would damage itself. Is it because of the grinders reach, or because of how I have it set up? I do remember from the first time and only time (until now) I tried making a grinder pit years ago, that I found debris to be an issue. That's what turned me to the Build and Repair mod which I've used regularly since. I'll probably have one or two set up for cleaning duty or something, though I've been wrestling with the argument of if I'm going to use the mod to clean the pit, why not just use the mod to grind the scrap and not bother with a pit at all?

[CaveDweller]

Postat inițial de Purple Wizard:

Postat inițial de Cor.:

Is your grinder in space?

I built one my last playthru for Pirate ships and stations. I had to put a gravity generator on it because the grinders throw parts everywhere. I had an ion tug that I used to slowly push the target into the pit, but Ive seen alot of people use pistons

I've got an asteroid base at the moment and want to do scrapping. Do loose grid parts like armor blocks get caught by the gravity field? I know items do, but I could swear grids were exempt from artificial gravity unless they had artificial mass blocks.

If I remember correctly, loose grid parts will float away as well depending on their size and the force of the "push", though I might be wrong

[Purple Wizard]

Postat inițial de CaveDweller:

Postat inițial de Purple Wizard:

I've got an asteroid base at the moment and want to do scrapping. Do loose grid parts like armor blocks get caught by the gravity field? I know items do, but I could swear grids were exempt from artificial gravity unless they had artificial mass blocks.

If I remember correctly, loose grid parts will float away as well depending on their size and the force of the "push", though I might be wrong

Damn. I'll have to do some kind of grinder-wall thing instead and push the scrap into it, then. Or maybe just use a piston above it to push a lid onto it? I'll figure out something.

[Daynen Drakeson]

a grav gen in your pit and an artificial mass block on the far end of the target ship will help pull the grid into range so your grinders can work.

[Cor.]

Postat inițial de Purple Wizard:

Postat inițial de Cor.:

Is your grinder in space?

I built one my last playthru for Pirate ships and stations. I had to put a gravity generator on it because the grinders throw parts everywhere. I had an ion tug that I used to slowly push the target into the pit, but Ive seen alot of people use pistons

I've got an asteroid base at the moment and want to do scrapping. Do loose grid parts like armor blocks get caught by the gravity field? I know items do, but I could swear grids were exempt from artificial gravity unless they had artificial mass blocks.

Pieces "usually" fell into the pit, but it goes without saying that sometimes parts get flung into the void before the field can catch them.

Like CD said, a lid on a hinge helps a ton

[ShadedMJ]

Postat inițial de Ronin Planetary Industries:

Grinder pits are very PCU intensive. ...

I agree. With grids frequently being split into two grids, and each of those being split I've almost had a game crash from new grid creation.

[CaveDweller]

Postat inițial de ShadedMJ:

Postat inițial de Ronin Planetary Industries:

Grinder pits are very PCU intensive. ...

I agree. With grids frequently being split into two grids, and each of those being split I've almost had a game crash from new grid creation.

So would it be better to replace the grinders with the build and repair mod, or would that be equally as intensive?

[Cor.]

The trick of a grinder pit is using a magnetic plate/piston system to slowly pull the target into the pit. Also a tugboat slowly pushing the target into the pit works.

has to be slow. too fast you can damage the grinders and/or fling parts off into the great unknown.

[Dan2D3D]

I just made a new Printer for my AI Drone, it works very well to weld the Bp and that setup should be Ok to grind, too so Piston arm holding the Debris.

It's very stable with Welder Pit and surely the same for Grinder Pit :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3357316180

[Captain Canard]

I think it would be fun to have two walls of grinders mounted on pistons that slowly close in on whatever is parked in the middle, just like the scary "crush you to death" walls in countless movies. Make the floor out of collectors to catch whatever spills out of containers, and it should be functional AND cool! Better yet, it'll work in all (or no) gravity.

[ShadedMJ]

Postat inițial de CaveDweller:

...So would it be better to replace the grinders with the build and repair mod, or would that be equally as intensive?

I would always prefer the Nanobot Build and Repair to grinder pit. Other than just it being a mod there is no downside except maybe power consumption. It doesn't add momentum so nothing can escape, just park next to it and leave the Nanobots in fly mode.

Edit: I didn't pay attention to the intensive part of the sentence. I would think it would be less intensive. On 'near first' or 'far first' if there is a grid split, the split is still on the edge to get the next piece. Again less momentum (outside of gravity) applied so everything is reasonably contained.

[CaveDweller]

I couldn't help but make a meme. I was testing a crane trolley design, and no matter what I did, it would just not sit the way I wanted it to.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3357497472

[CaveDweller]

Postat inițial de ShadedMJ:

Postat inițial de CaveDweller:

...So would it be better to replace the grinders with the build and repair mod, or would that be equally as intensive?

I would always prefer the Nanobot Build and Repair to grinder pit. Other than just it being a mod there is no downside except maybe power consumption. It doesn't add momentum so nothing can escape, just park next to it and leave the Nanobots in fly mode.

Edit: I didn't pay attention to the intensive part of the sentence. I would think it would be less intensive. On 'near first' or 'far first' if there is a grid split, the split is still on the edge to get the next piece. Again less momentum (outside of gravity) applied so everything is reasonably contained.

Alright, I'll swap out my grinders with the mod. My Antares rover should fit in seamlessly then =)

[ShadedMJ]

I should have also said that Nanobot Build and Repair covers a 150m area with the option of moving that 150 area plus/minus 75m so it can cover a pretty good space.

On a server I had IMBER faction getting planted around me. I made a ship 5 layers of heavy armor. 1 Nanobot set to repair the ship, and 4 Nanobots for enemy grinding. Parked the ship in front of the enemy. Nanobots ground the antennas and weapons of IMBER as a priority while repairing the front armor.