Smart loader/unloader : a way to get stacks?

[Corvus]

Hey guys, I've been playing the game for quite some time and I finally decided to try stuff I didn't use in my few previous factories. First thing was trains ! (yup never used them before XD)

Came the issue of loading/unloading trains. I quickly realised that not-evenly loaded chests = longer waiting trains. So I did some research to find a way to fix that.
I soon found out Madzuri's smart loader, and an other trick (set inserter to read hand, allow when everything=0). But the thing is, those solutions make the inserter pick 1 item at a time it seems. Soooo even if the chests are nicely always at the same filling rate, it is a veeeery slow rate.
Did I do something wrong ? Is there an other way ?

Thanks for your help =)

[whiter2501]

Depends on what you are loading/unloading. For my plates station at ore outpost I use multiple belt balancers, one from all the smelter lines into 4 lines, then each one of those 4 lines go to 2 cargo with a 4 line balancer into chests with stack inserters to load my train from them.

That makes the lines for each set of chests even for both cars and I don't really see any real delay in loading once the chests start to get near full and my smelters start to get full production going.

[KatherineOfSky]

There are a number of belt balancing solutions out there. Personally, I prefer simpler ones, generally.

Have you researched inserter stack bonus? The Madzuri design I've seen used makes allowances for the stack bonus, and it is very swift indeed. (The belt never backs up).

[Killcreek2]

When using madzuris design, make sure to set the inserter to "less than< {inserter stack size}". So for fast inserter with +2 from research, use " less than < 3".

4x fast inserters with stack size 3 can strip a red belt to fill 4 chests in that loading setup.

[!?!]

I've found a simple yet effective way to load and unload trains is to let bots sort out the balancing.
Go requester chest to train and it'll balance itself while also being the most compact solution.

With belts, you'll want to look up belt balancers so there's a naturally balanced trickle of ore incoming.
You won't need to force an even loading with circuit condidtions that way although this will be the most space intensive solution.

[Corvus]

Автор сообщения: Killcreek2

When using madzuris design, make sure to set the inserter to "less than< {inserter stack size}". So for fast inserter with +2 from research, use " less than < 3".

Oh, that might be it !
I'll give it a try. Thanks for all the answers guys !

[Horoai]

Автор сообщения: Altus Corvus

Автор сообщения: Killcreek2

When using madzuris design, make sure to set the inserter to "less than< {inserter stack size}". So for fast inserter with +2 from research, use " less than < 3".

Oh, that might be it !
I'll give it a try. Thanks for all the answers guys !

How many chests and wagons do you load? Playing default resource settings I have never found a field large enough to outproduce {6 chests per wagon} * {3 wagons} with every inserter loading one ore at a time. Every wagon (6 chests) gets it's own output belt from the mine and I put a balancer between the 3 output belts and the X input belts.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=865113510

When there is a very rich field I even pull out the ore from 2 sides and merge them before the balancer in order to avoid the mines backing up. Yet, loading the ore which gets there is not an issue because mining production still doesn't exceed the inserter throughput capacity.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=865114850

[!?!]

If you use 12 per wagon, you minimize loadtime if the chest buffer is full which can happen if the train has been waiting to unload for a while.
Of course you'll rarely ever actually match the throughput of 12 stack inserters per wagon which is 4 blue belts.

[Corvus]

6 chests for 1 wagon. I usually roll with 3 wagons for each outpost but it might be overkill.
Thanks for the screenshots !

[Corvus]

Well I changed the condition to <10 and it seems to work way better !
The chests are not perfectly even, but it's like 20/30 items differencies, which is pretty much nothing.
Thanks a lot to you guys for all the help :D