looking for a layout

[SCUBADIVER88]

need help with a compact steel forge layout trying to split incoming ore evenly to more than 3 forges in a compact area

[Huren Ogeko]

assuming you are on the tier where steel is unlocked you probably have access to only mk1 miners but on the verrge of mk2 miners and mk3 belts. The thing is you need to make steel to unlock those two and often I make a quick and dirty steel factory to get the materials to get the upgraded miner and belt before I make my main steel plant. So assuming you unlock the belt and miner before building your main steel plant this is how I would do it without manifolds.

working with normal nodes and mk2 miners fully overclocked you will output 300 units but are limited to 270 units due to mk3 belts. so you just split that by 2 then by 3 and into foundries.
later when you upgrade to mk4 belts you can get the full 300 units out it actually gets more complicated if you want to split that evenly. I often just dont bother unless I am using manifolds. but if one wanted to I would say the best way is to underclock the forges to 30 units on the input side (about 66.66666~% and then you can split by 5 then into 2.

[Huren Ogeko]

to be honest I would use a simple manifold

[kLuns]

compact steel? you mean the build is compact or do you want to mix sulfur into the build?

For a compact build I recommend 4 smelters to 3 foundries and load balanced.

Basicly this makes packages of 120 incoming goodies which can be fore balanced with a mk 2 belt.

Solid steel is your friend. If you only want to make steel pipes and steel beams you can make directly a constructor on the output or a splitter going to 2 constructors. This make you need only one mk2 belt per section for the goodies to come out.

For sulfur you can make 1 assembler and 2 foundries, assembler running at 90%, foundries at 100%

[Huren Ogeko]

he said "into a compact area" so I assume its not compacted steel and probably not including sulfur.

but seeing as he said three forges in a compact area I think he might just be wanting to know how to split ore evenly between three machines with little space between them. and to answer that just use two splitters fed on one side each one directly in front of the a different foundry input. one at 3 high and one at 4 and elevators between each input directly into the splitter. then the two side foundries can be placed right next to the center one and use elevators facing out from the inputs at the proper height and a small conveyor over to the splitters side outputs
if I Was in game I would just throw you a screenshot but right now I am unable to do that. but maybe in a couple hours I can show what I mean.

anyhow if you can decipher the layout from my description you have 3 foundries in a space that is only about 1 tile extra in the front of the foundries needed to accommodate the splitting which is barely more then what is needed for a manifold.

if you really want to get more compact you can even feed from above or below and have the splitter in the same X-Y space as the foundry itself so you are not using any more X-Y space then the foundries themselves already use. if below you are using at least a partial floor to hold belts and if above you could float above in the same room without much if any visible clipping.

later on I can probably throw up some screenshots to demonstrate what I am describing but it would help to have some clarification on what the overall challenge is you are trying to overcome here and why a simple manifold wont work for you.

[SCUBADIVER88]

basicly i want to use the blueprint thing to make it compact area

[SCUBADIVER88]

with the blueprint creator add on