How does auto crafter work?

[FractalizeR]

Looks like you can put resources into it and it starts to craft slowly, but looks like this is not more effective, than having a worker there. I thought this auto crafter will allow me to free one bot for other tasks. How do I do that?

[FR35HM4K3R]

Originally posted by FractalizeR:

Looks like you can put resources into it and it starts to craft slowly, but looks like this is not more effective, than having a worker there. I thought this auto crafter will allow me to free one bot for other tasks. How do I do that?

i use labeled boxes and pipes. i.e. for steel i will place crafting machine between 2 walls and put a carbon box on one wall and an iron box on the other, run a labeled pipe from each box into the autocrafter so it gets fed directly from the boxes. then you can add a steel box and run a labeled pipe from the autocrafter into it to collect the finished product. if you do not want a bot touching it you need to place it away from any bot crafting section and set their range so they can not reach it. i have found that the best use for autocrafters is connect them to a machine shop and have it craft repair kits and pipe them into an autowelder. it creates just enough to do the repairs in radius of machine without over filling boxes with repair kits.