Different products on the same belt?

[RubusRoo]

Can you put lots of different products on the same belt & will the insertors pick up only the products they need for the item they are assemblimg?

[impetus_maximus]

you can, but shouldn't. while they will pick up what the machine is calling for, mixing items on belts should be avoided.

some make 'sushi' belts with combinators for science, but with long handed inserters, or belt 'braiding' why would you need to?

[Hedning]

You can but you have to be clever about it. If you are not careful what will happen is that the belt will back up with all inserters blocked by items they don't need.

[impetus_maximus]

should have added that mixing half and half is fine. one on each side.

[RubusRoo]

OK thanks. I tried it with science packs & whilst it works, I ended up with loads of red packs surplus. God this game is addictive

[Hedning]

Originally posted by boo4roo:

OK thanks. I tried it with science packs & whilst it works, I ended up with loads of red packs surplus. God this game is addictive

Yes, one common way of doing it is to put the science belt in a loop, have some circuit logic counting the items on the belt and have inserters loading science packs onto the belt as needed.

[BitterSwede]

It is possible with some nifty workarounds, as stated, but nearly impossible to keep it from eventually building up with the wrong items.

This is why so many rush to get robots, as logistics robots doesn't care what else is in a chest, as long as the item they need is there. You can mix and match as much as you want with robots.

One way I was experimenting with mixed belts was circuits checking a belt tile for if there's more than 4 items of the same type on it. If yes, it would trigger a splitter, taking the entire tile's worth off the loop, where it would be put into a chest. The chest was hooked up to filter inserters for each of the types of items I had on the belt, and if certain productions got halted, it would put the appropriate item back in the loop, weaving it in with another step-controlled belt.

In the end, the "trash chest" backed up with a single item, while the belt loop did the same.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

In the end, the "trash chest" backed up with a single item, while the belt loop did the same.

Yes, it is generally easier to check what should be allowed on the belt than to remove excess.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1190982080

[BitterSwede]

Originally posted by Hedning:

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

In the end, the "trash chest" backed up with a single item, while the belt loop did the same.

Yes, it is generally easier to check what should be allowed on the belt than to remove excess.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1190982080

How did you manage that one without a clock? And where do you check how many items have passed of each type? I'm impressed!

[Hedning]

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

How did you manage that one without a clock? And where do you check how many items have passed of each type? I'm impressed!

Each belt holds 3.5 items on a lane per tile.
On the loop belt I read an amount of tiles equal to the number of entry belts (+1 for good measure) (set to hold info, not pulse).
Therefore I know I can fit exactly 3.5 items per entry belt in that same space, so I tell the entry belts to hold if there's more than that already on the loop belt.

[BitterSwede]

Originally posted by Hedning:

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

How did you manage that one without a clock? And where do you check how many items have passed of each type? I'm impressed!

Each belt holds 3.5 items on a lane per tile.
On the loop belt I read an amount of tiles equal to the number of entry belts (+1 for good measure) (set to hold info, not pulse).
Therefore I know I can fit exactly 3.5 items per entry belt in that same space, so I tell the entry belts to hold if there's more than that already on the loop belt.

So how does the loop belt know which of the packs is required at any given time, without having to let the already existing ones loop all the way around? And how does it know when a loop is completed?

[Hedning]

I call it a loop belt because it is a loop. What isn't used in one run is inserted before the reading for the next. In this case with science it is automatically almost a loop if you build an even number of rows like I had there. The loop doesn't necessarily have to be on the belt itself. The inserter belts can be in a loop if excess is recycled back onto them before new production.

Some sort of loop is necessary to recycle excess otherwise it will just keep piling up, and it has to be inserted before new production is otherwise even if you think you produce excactly what is consumed so that there theoretically is no excess something like a power issue can break it. Much easier to just have a loop. Doesn't have to be the belt coming back. Can also be done with inserters or robots and chests.

[BitterSwede]

Originally posted by Hedning:

I call it a loop belt because it is a loop. What isn't used in one run is inserted before the reading for the next. In this case with science it is automatically almost a loop if you build an even number of rows like I had there. The loop doesn't necessarily have to be on the belt itself. The inserter belts can be in a loop if excess is recycled back onto them before new production.

Some sort of loop is necessary to recycle excess otherwise it will just keep piling up, and it has to be inserted before new production is otherwise even if you think you produce excactly what is consumed so that there theoretically is no excess something like a power issue can break it. Much easier to just have a loop. Doesn't have to be the belt coming back. Can also be done with inserters or robots and chests.

Yeah, I get the loop part. What I don't get is how you keep it from piling up with the wrong packs, if your research isn't using all packs.
For example, if you're doing weapon research, you'll rarely use production packs, so I don't get how that system keeps the loop from overflowing with production packs without being able to read how many production packs is currently in the loop and not "eaten" by the science labs.

[impetus_maximus]

or you can have two rows of belts on each side, use inserters, and long handed inseters to handle 7 science packs.

or weave belts.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=921862609

or my favorite, load them into a car.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126874030

[BitterSwede]

Originally posted by impetus maximus:

or you can have two rows of belts on each side, use inserters, and long handed inseters to handle 7 science packs.

or weave belts.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=921862609

or my favorite, load them into a car.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126874030

Seems a bit redundant to me. I just place my labs one tile apart and chain them all up with inserters, so each lab feeds the next. Three belts in can feed about 12 labs, so every 12 labs I just split the 3 lines.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

Yeah, I get the loop part. What I don't get is how you keep it from piling up with the wrong packs, if your research isn't using all packs.

Because I never add more than what fits. lets say I manually added 14 red in a row. Well since I am looking at 8 tiles as soon as they enter the first tile any new addition of red will shut off, so there will be 7 tiles with 0 red before those 14, and the same when they leave, a 7 tile gap with 0 red after. Since I have 6 other science packs I am guaranteed to fit a set of each in both the gap before those reds and in the gap after. Over time randomly those 14 will be eaten up and it will return to normal.

Originally posted by impetus maximus:

or you can have two rows of belts on each side, use inserters, and long handed inseters to handle 7 science packs.
or weave belts.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=921862609
or my favorite, load them into a car.

Well That's the beauty of factorio. There are many right ways of doing things. Although I am a bit concerned that you are going to blow those labs up.