how do you adjust/place your assembling machine when it requires 3 items in order to make it?

[Anastasia]

okay, my title might be confusing, so please, refer to image below for better understanding

https://imgur.com/wmpyAMv


for clarification, I'm trying to make piercing round, and it requires copper plate, steel plate, and magazine. the input, is easy. for me combine steel and magazine on one lane, then just do copper on separate lane. means the steel and piercing on the left and copper on the right, well either way is fine.
that's the input

the problem is how do I create lane for the output, which is the piercing round? for me its kind of confusing to adjust/create lane when it comes to 3 inputs, because there is no empty space left




I look around my base, and find out I do have 3 inputs assembling machine, which is inserter.

https://imgur.com/BC3920h

pic above as reference, the way I do it, i create lane on the middle since there is no spaces left to do so.


not exactly stuck, but just curious are there any more optimal way to put lane for 3 inputs like this? or is this how you guys do things?

looking for reference because starting now I'm going to do 3 combination instead of 2

[knighttemplar1960]

You can either use long insterters and create an adjacent lane for output or you can layer underground belts.

Edit:

Long arms:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240216637

Layered undergrounds: in this example its for green circuits rather than ammo.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240216467

[Yeezus]

you can have inserters directly grab from a assembler or you could have long reach inserter place on another lane

[Ryan]

I recommend the red inserters.

[Hoki]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240217018

this is how i manage more than 2 materials for an assembly. with this setup you could in theory support up to 11 different materials (+ 1 dedicated half belt for the end product) when using this setup on both sides.

[Anastasia]

Originally posted by Hoki:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240217018

this is how i manage more than 2 materials for an assembly. with this setup you could in theory support up to 11 different materials (+ 1 dedicated half belt for the end product) when using this setup of both sides.

sorry im kind of confused. do you have 2 long inserter there?

OOT question, why is your UI so different?

[Fel]

One of the possible ways with red inserters:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240224357

[Fel]

Originally posted by Anastasia:

Originally posted by Hoki:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240217018

this is how i manage more than 2 materials for an assembly. with this setup you could in theory support up to 11 different materials (+ 1 dedicated half belt for the end product) when using this setup of both sides.

sorry im kind of confused. do you have 2 long inserter there?

OOT question, why is your UI so different?

His UI is because of mods, the 2 red inserters are to grab from the 2 further belts.
This specific approach is great when all 3 products are needed in the same quantities and you need a full belt of each to feed the machines.

[Anastasia]

Originally posted by Fel:

Originally posted by Anastasia:

sorry im kind of confused. do you have 2 long inserter there?

OOT question, why is your UI so different?

His UI is because of mods, the 2 red inserters are to grab from the 2 further belts.
This specific approach is great when all 3 products are needed in the same quantities and you need a full belt of each to feed the machines.

Thank you for the help, will try to use long inserter from now on

[Modran]

If possible I use only one lane per item, so one belt can be shared for in- and output:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240381578

There is no fast-/stack-/filter-version of long inserters, so I try to avoid them whereever possible, to keep upgradeability open without having to rebuild the entire design.

[RiO]

Originally posted by Anastasia:

are there any more optimal way to put lane for 3 inputs like this? or is this how you guys do things?

There's always the option of running a second input belt next to the first and using long arm red inserters. But you might not need them. You see; you do actually have a third empty lane available. On your output belt. Inserters always 'out-sert' onto the far lane of the belt, which leaves the near lane empty. This is a 100% guarantee.

In other words; you can shift your third input product onto the near-lane of the output belt.
Of course, you'll then need to prevent that third input product from leaking into your output stream once your belt has passed by all of the assembly machines to pick up their output. You can easily do this with a splitter, configured with an output filter.

[guts2501]

Also you can just have it inserted into a chest in between the two assemblers or use the undergrounds like was mentioned.

[The Undead Watcher]

Originally posted by Anastasia:

Originally posted by Fel:

His UI is because of mods, the 2 red inserters are to grab from the 2 further belts.
This specific approach is great when all 3 products are needed in the same quantities and you need a full belt of each to feed the machines.

Thank you for the help, will try to use long inserter from now on

You can also do Belt Weaving with different types of undergound belts.

[Anastasia]

Originally posted by Modran:

If possible I use only one lane per item, so one belt can be shared for in- and output:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240381578

There is no fast-/stack-/filter-version of long inserters, so I try to avoid them whereever possible, to keep upgradeability open without having to rebuild the entire design.

okayy... but this is just confusing, like how do you even manage to push through your red chips but not your copper wire?

[Drevin]

Originally posted by Anastasia:

Originally posted by Modran:

If possible I use only one lane per item, so one belt can be shared for in- and output:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240381578

There is no fast-/stack-/filter-version of long inserters, so I try to avoid them whereever possible, to keep upgradeability open without having to rebuild the entire design.

okayy... but this is just confusing, like how do you even manage to push through your red chips but not your copper wire?

Look at the underground belt unit on the bottom right. It has a built in piece of metal which stops the flow of items from half of the belt. In the screenshot it was placed there on purpose just for this effect, it wasn't placed there to move something underneath the ground. Ingame, you can rotate an underground belt unit and look at it from different angles, and you'll see that stop plate. It's a clever way to block flow from one side of the belt, if you use it correctly.

Edit: You can look at this image also: https://factoriocheatsheet.com/assets/images/belt-tip-side-load.webp

[Modran]

Originally posted by Drevin:

Look at the underground belt unit on the bottom right. It has a built in piece of metal which stops the flow of items from half of the belt. In the screenshot it was placed there on purpose just for this effect, it wasn't placed there to move something underneath the ground.

Exactly. A less hacky solution would be to use a splitter and set its filter.