Automating a machine line · Enthalpy Docs

The problem#

You have an engine, a Triturator and a Resistive Kiln, and you want raw metal to go in at one end and ingots to come out of the other, with nobody carrying anything in between. This guide builds that line, then covers the choices you make on the way: how to power it, how to move items, and how to switch it off.

The line below starts from raw metal, not ore. Raw metal grinds into dust with nothing left over, so the dust can flow straight into the Kiln. An ore grind also drops gravel now and then, which a Kiln would refuse; handle that step on its own, as the ore processing guide describes.

Step 1: lay out the machines#

Place the three machines in a row, with the Triturator and the Kiln touching each other and an engine at each end:

A Caloric Engine against the Triturator's end.
The Triturator.
The Resistive Kiln, touching the Triturator.
A second engine against the Kiln's end.

Faces are named from the machine's own point of view, so you can turn a machine with the Calibration Tablet and its settings turn with it. Place the machines first, rotate them as you like, then set the sides. Side configuration explains the panel.

Step 2: power#

An engine pushes FE only out of faces set to Output. By default that is its front, so turn the engine until its front touches the machine it feeds. Machines accept FE on every face.

The numbers are comfortable. A Caloric Engine makes 40 FE/t and a lane of a processing machine draws 20 FE/t while it works, so one engine runs 2 base-tier lanes. One Coal in an engine feeds a working lane for 150 s. An engine only burns fuel while its buffer has room, so an idle line does not waste any.

Fuel the engines from a chest: put the chest on one of the engine's input faces and turn on Auto-input, or put a hopper above it pointing down. A chest of Sawdust from a Kerf Mill makes a fuel supply that costs nothing.

When the machines can't both touch an engine#

Any face of an engine can be set to Output, so a single engine can power every machine that touches it. When your layout won't let that happen, put a Voltaic Cell with a Tesla Module within reach of all of them. It powers every machine in a box around it with no contact at all; Wireless power sets one up, and the engine then feeds the cell.

Step 3: move the items#

With the two machines touching, the Triturator can hand its product to the Kiln directly:

Triturator, face towards the Kiln: Output.
Kiln, face towards the Triturator: Input.
Triturator, Configuration tab: switch Auto-output on. It pushes each finished dust through its Output faces into whatever accepts it. The Kiln accepts dust, so it goes in.
Triturator, top face: Input, with a hopper or a chest of raw metal above it. A hopper fills it with no setting at all. With a chest and Auto-input on, the Triturator pulls from the chest itself.
Kiln, any other face: Output, with a chest beside it, and Auto-output on the Kiln. Ingots collect in the chest.

Every face takes and gives by default, so the line works before you touch a setting. Making each seam one-way stops an ingot wandering back, and keeps a hopper from pulling the wrong thing out of an input.

Hoppers and pipes#

Hoppers and pipes from other mods work on any face that is set to Input (to put things in) or Output (to take things out). A hopper under a machine pulls from its bottom face if that face is Output or Both, and a hopper above a machine pushes into its top face if that face is Input or Both.

Fluid machines follow the same rules. The Vortex Separator, Distiller and Reaction Vat push fluids into neighbouring tanks and pipes with Auto-output on, and an engine's input face accepts a pipe of fuel. Fuel chains strings these together.

Step 4: more lanes, and keeping them fed#

A Manifold Module opens two more lanes in the Triturator or the Kiln. Items go to the emptiest lane first, so a hopper or pipe feeds all of them. Each lane draws its own power, so count lanes when you size the engines: five lanes of a base machine draw 100 FE/t. The Configuration tab's Balance lanes switch keeps the stacks spread evenly across the open lanes. Which upgrade to fit first is the subject of Upgrading machines.

A line is only as fast as its slowest machine. If the Kiln cannot keep up with the Triturator, dust piles up in the Kiln's input and the Triturator waits with its output full. Add a Manifold or a tier kit to the slow end.

Step 5: redstone#

The Configuration tab has a redstone setting on every machine and engine: Always ignores redstone, Low runs only with no signal and High runs only with one. A switched-off machine reads Disabled.

Put a lever on the engines set to High to shut the whole line down by flipping it. The machines stop when their buffers run dry.
Set the first machine to Low and wire it to a detector on the output chest, and the line pauses while the chest holds enough, then starts again when you empty it.

Pitfalls#

A full output stops the line. A lane waits, keeping its progress, if its output slot holds something else or is full. Plan a pipe or chest at the end of every product, including bonus outputs.
Auto-output goes everywhere. A machine pushes products into every neighbour that accepts them, so a chest touching the Triturator takes dust meant for the Kiln. Keep chests off the middle of the line.
A refused item blocks a hopper. A hopper holding an item that the next machine refuses stops. That is why an ore grind, which drops gravel, wants its own chest.
Two metals, one pipe. The Eddy Smelter takes two ingredients; turn on its Alloying mode when a pipe feeds it, or the pipe can fill both slots with one metal.
Everything runs "Charging" together. If the engines can't keep up, each machine runs in bursts. See Troubleshooting.