Clever uses of automation?

[Greep]

I was kind of annoyed that there was no timer automation so I could turn my polymer press on and off every few seconds. There's a clock automation that only switches once a day, and I'm sure you could go crazy with those and buffers to make a pulser, but that sounded too complicated.

Then I was curious to see how the timing was if I just winged it and have it shut down when the plasitc falls on a sensor and turns back on when a dupe picks it up (weight + not gate). Turns out the timing is perfect to prevent overheating!

Just wondering what else people have figured out either through planning or just weird ideas.

[McGuffin]

if you want crazy and clever stuff I suggest you to take a look at this :)

https://www.youtube.com/user/Brothgar/videos

[Oconzer]

A clever use of automation that I'm using is a buffer gate, a filter gate and a not gate to form a Automation Timing Circuit.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1218217608

All inputs are put on the automation wire that is after the buffer gate, and then before the filter gate put a not gate. This allows you to be able to have the signal flop on and off as needed based on the times that you set on the buffer gate (time in seconds to have the machines running) and the filter gate (time in seconds to have the machines off). In my above screenshot I've got my 2 plastic makers set to be on 20 seconds and off for 30 seconds.

[D3matt]

That's a really good idea, Oconzer!

[Bob]

I'm using a thermometer and it's doing a fine enough job.

[zverozvero]

Any tips for generators automation?
I tried chaining 1 manual gen to batery block with just one way to reach it, presure plate and gate to lock. Once batery starts faltering dupe rushes to hamster wheel but presure plate shutts that way (so dupe goes back to other tasks) and sets buffer for natural gas gens working for a while. When buffer runs off, gate to Wheel unlocks and gas gens stop.
System was cumbersome (either huge trail of heavy watt wire or huge coridor to Wheel) and dupes AI went freaky so i traded it for 2 clock activators to tune worktime manually. Not a proper automation at all...
So, any great solutions for that?