Dismantled kits, old tools, a misprinted part – you do not have to throw much of it away. The Recycler breaks items down into their substances, the Centrifuge turns mixtures back into pure ores. From there it goes into the furnace as usual.
The recycler
The recycler has a 100 W base draw, an import and an export slot, a chute input and output and separate ports for power and data. The kit Kit (Recycler) is printed by the autolathe from iron 20 and copper 10.
What you get back
The rule is in the game code: for every print recipe the game enters the recipe times 0.5 into the recycler table when loading, for furnace recipes the full recipe. That gives the table 538 entries, and for 519 of them you get exactly half of the ingredients back. A few examples:
| Item | Print recipe | Recycler returns |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Sheets | iron 1 | iron 0.5 |
| Electronic Parts | iron 3, gold 2, copper 3 | iron 1.5, gold 1, copper 1.5 |
| Mining Drill | iron 3, copper 2 | iron 1.5, copper 1 |
| Kit (Furnace) | iron 30, copper 10 | iron 15, copper 5 |
| Kit (Deep Miner) | steel 50, invar 10, electrum 5, constantan 5 | steel 25, invar 5, electrum 2.5, constantan 2.5 |
Ingots are the exception, because they come from the furnace. An Ingot (Iron) returns all of its iron. Alloy ingots fall apart into their base metals: an Ingot (Steel) becomes iron 0.75 and carbon 0.25, an Ingot (Electrum) gold 0.5 and silver 0.5. For super alloys this is a bad deal: their ingot costs 4 units of mix, but the recycler only returns one.
For some things the recycler does not consult the table at all:
- Ore – charcoal and reagent mix included – returns its contents in full.
- Dirty Ore returns half of its contents.
- Plants, decayed food, eggshells and hay become biomass. Other food yields nothing.
- Items with contents, for example with a battery or gas canister: it recycles the contents first, then the item.
Printed parts, on the other hand, return alloys as alloys – in the example above steel, invar, electrum and constantan. For every alloy there is a furnace recipe – in the advanced furnace for super alloys – without a temperature or pressure window that turns the pure alloy substance back into an ingot.
How the output works
The recycler collects everything in an internal store. It outputs it as Reagent Mix as soon as 50 units have gathered or nothing has arrived for about 3 s. Each piece of the mix is one unit, a stack holds at most 50 pieces. Only whole units become pieces; the fraction is lost on output: if you recycle a single Pickaxe (iron 1, copper 0.5), you get 1 piece of mix with about 0.67 iron and 0.33 copper – half a unit is lost. So feed several parts in one go. And keep the recycler switched on until everything is out – switched off it outputs nothing.
Worked example
You take down a deep miner kit. New, it cost steel 50, invar 10, electrum 5 and constantan 5. The recycler returns half. To print a new kit you are still short of 25 steel, 5 invar, 2.5 electrum and 2.5 constantan. Recycling saves material, but it does not replace mining.
The centrifuge
The centrifuge separates a mixture of substances again. According to the recipe data it turns every base substance into the matching ore:
| Substance | becomes |
|---|---|
| iron, copper, gold, silver, lead, nickel, silicon, cobalt, uranium | the matching ore, e.g. Ore (Iron) |
| carbon | Charcoal |
| hydrocarbon | Ore (Coal) |
| biomass | Biomass |
It has no recipe for alloys such as steel or electrum. Those belong in the furnace.
This is how it works: with the lid closed (Open 0) it spins up, by 0.5 RPM per tick to 100 RPM, and breaks down one piece after another meanwhile. At full speed a piece of reagent mix or dirty ore takes 18 s, a normal ore 3 s. It collects the substances up to 400 units; after that it processes nothing and reports an error. It only outputs with the lid open (Open 1) and the drum standing still – running down takes about 33 s. Then one ore stack per substance comes out as soon as a whole unit has gathered. Remainders below one unit stay inside. Ores from the centrifuge no longer release gas when melted.
The kit Kit (Centrifuge) is printed by the autolathe from iron 20 and copper 5. After that come two steel sheets with the wrench and two with the welding torch. The centrifuge draws 100 W and knows Open besides On, plus readable Reagents, ImportCount and ExportCount. How to control the cycle with Open is also practised in the academy lesson recycler and centrifuge.
The combustion centrifuge
The Combustion Centrifuge separates like the normal centrifuge, but also has a gas input and output and a slot for a chip of its own. Its logic values show what it is about: Combustion, CombustionLimiter, Throttle, Rpm and Stress. So it is driven by burning gas. Its base draw is only 50 W.
The kit Kit (Combustion Centrifuge) needs a tier 2 autolathe (steel 20, invar 10, constantan 5). It is built with two steel sheets and one cable coil.
A recycling line
Chutes connect everything into a chain:
- Intake – old parts go into a chute.
- Recycler – breaks them down into a Reagent Mix.
- Centrifuge – turns the base substances into pure ores.
- Arc furnace or furnace – turns those back into ingots.
The same centrifuge also takes Dirty Ore from the deep miner, see Deep miner and automatic mining.
Controlling it with IC10
A chip has to watch two things here. The recycler only outputs while it is switched on – if you switch it off as soon as its import slot is empty, the mix stays stuck inside. And the centrifuge only outputs with the lid open, but only processes with it closed. The example keeps the recycler running until nothing is left in it. It opens the centrifuge when it is nearly full or the whole line has run empty, and closes it again once nothing has come out for 60 s. A LED Display (Small) shows the centrifuge contents:
# Recycling line: recycler when needed, empty the centrifuge
define RECYCLER -1633947337 # Recycler (StructureRecycler)
define CENTRI 690945935 # Centrifuge (StructureCentrifuge)
define LED -815193061 # LED Display Small (StructureConsoleLED5)
define NREC HASH("Recycler") # name of the recycler
define NCEN HASH("Centrifuge") # name of the centrifuge
define NLED HASH("Centrifuge Contents") # name of the display
define IN 0 # slot 0 = Import
define OUT 1 # slot 1 = Export
define REST 1 # from 1 unit there is something to output
define FULL 350 # empty the centrifuge from here (limit 400)
define WAIT 120 # 120 ticks = 60 s without output: close
alias occupied r0
alias contents r1
alias run r2
alias lid r3
alias idle r4
alias tmp r5
alias empty r6
start:
yield
lbns occupied RECYCLER NREC IN Occupied 0
bnan occupied start # no recycler with this name
lbn contents RECYCLER NREC Reagents 0
bnan contents start
sge tmp contents REST # still something to output?
or run occupied tmp
sbn RECYCLER NREC On run # off only once everything is out
lbn contents CENTRI NCEN Reagents 0
bnan contents start # no centrifuge with this name
sbn CENTRI NCEN On 1
sbn LED NLED Setting contents
bnez lid draining # already open: wait for the output
sge lid contents FULL # nearly full: open
lbns empty CENTRI NCEN IN Occupied 0
bnan empty start
seqz empty empty # 1 = nothing waiting at the input
seqz tmp run # 1 = recycler is done
and empty empty tmp
sge tmp contents REST # 1 = something to output
and empty empty tmp
or lid lid empty # line has run empty: open as well
move idle 0
sbn CENTRI NCEN Open lid
j start
draining:
lbns tmp CENTRI NCEN OUT Occupied 0
bnan tmp start
seqz tmp tmp # 1 = export slot empty
add idle idle 1
mul idle idle tmp # still coming out: counter back to 0
slt lid idle WAIT # nothing for a long time: close
sbn CENTRI NCEN Open lid
j startThe 120 ticks cover the drum running down (about 66 ticks) and leave room between two stacks. If remainders below one unit per substance are left, the chip keeps opening the centrifuge while idle – that does no harm, because as soon as new material is waiting at the input it stays closed.
Common mistakes
- Nothing forms in the furnace: a colourful mix from the recycler rarely fits any recipe. Send it through the centrifuge first.
- Less back than expected: almost everything only returns 50 %, and fractions are lost on output.
- The recycler holds on to the mix: it was switched off before it could output.
- The centrifuge outputs nothing: the lid is closed, or the drum is still spinning.
- Jam at the end: a full store behind the last machine stops the whole chain.
Further reading
- What each ore contains: Ores and what they contain
- Turning ore into ingots: The arc furnace: ore to ingots with electricity
- What each machine prints: Manufacturing: which machine prints what
- All recipes: Recipes by machine