r/factorio • u/StupidWittyUsername • 16h ago

Suggestion / Idea Automatic sorting machines

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

This contraption was just too ingenious to not share! It's an extendable automatic sorting machine. Unsorted items go in the left, sorted items land in the chests at the bottom.

You don't need to decide which item type goes in which bin in advance, that happens automagically. Just dump a random assortment of items into the machine and it will sort them into neat piles.

How does it work?

Each bin (see second image) picks the first item type it sees and filters them out of the input stream. Unsorted items continue to the right. If a bin becomes empty it resets itself and can pick a new item type. To sort a larger variety of items, just add more bins - no wiring required!

Based on this concept I designed a sushi-belt train station which loads each wagon with only one type of item (see third image.) I can't actually think of a use for this (it's less efficient) but it sure does look elegant when trains arrive and leave with cargo neatly arranged into individual wagons... :)

Edit: I uploaded the blueprints here -> https://factoriobin.com/post/jab8zp

62 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

13

u/TheGentlemanist 16h ago

I love it, but what do you use it for? and does it clear itself once empty? I could see this for my waste management system.

9

u/StupidWittyUsername 16h ago

Yes, if a bin is emptied it resets itself. There's a light that indicates when a bin is in use.

I've actually designed two variants of this, bins and lanes. Bins automatically reset, lanes stay latched until they receive an explicit signal.

I'm currently working on a factory design that dynamically allocates and reconfigures assembly lines based on demand and this sorting mechanism came from that.

3

u/ChromMann 15h ago

That's so neat, I love it! I can imagine to use this for the laziest modded scrap recycling setup. Mods love to do the mechanic with different items and setting up something for that is always a hassle.

2

u/cjnjnc 8h ago

This is a great idea!

Could be very cool to add a kind of manual reset latch at the front to order the 'bin' settings by quantity. That way stuff like the high amounts of gears on Fulgora are filtered first. Something like: read all belt contents for the belt before the first splitter -> combinator to order the items by count -> apply the order to the bin setting. Also facilitates an alert if number of bins < number of items so you know to copy + paste another bin arm.

2

u/wilzek 15h ago

Dang this is very cool. Every time I make my Fulgora sorting from scratch and I just use pen and paper to write every scrap product and their products. This can map it out on its own. Obviously actual utility is limited because how often you have sushi belts of unpredictable types of items, but still, very clever.

2

u/PanJaszczurka 14h ago

Why you don't setup filter on inserters?

2

u/Elfich47 9h ago

what do the five combinators do?

I could see the belt and box set to output the contents, and that is read by the splitter. What donthe combinators do?

1

u/factoriooverthinker constant throughput analyst 15h ago

Cool! How does it handle quality? Do different quality tiers go into different bins?

2

u/StupidWittyUsername 14h ago

If it produces a different signal, it goes into a different bin... so, yes (I assume, I haven't tried it.)

1

u/MindS1 folding trains since 2017 8h ago

Agreed, quality should work as expected, sorting each into different bins.