I have just built a giant iron farm, and I wanted to build a rail system to transport the iron from my farm to my main base. I have everything build, but I cannot figure out what I need for my minecart loading system. These are the main problems I am having:
1) I cannot use a system that uses a comparator detects if the hopper loading my minecart is empty or not. The tutorials I looked up on YouTube mainly were set up to power a powered rail under my minecart once the hopper above it was empty. Because my farm is so efficient, my hopper is never empty, and almost constantly being loaded with iron.
2) I tried to use a detector rail with a comparator to detect how full my minecart was. Obviously, that worked part worked perfectly, but now I have no clue how to get the minecart moving down the track again. I don't want to have to manually push it to the next powered rail, because that'd almost completely defeat the purpose of the system.
I have just built a giant iron farm, and I wanted to build a rail system to transport the iron from my farm to my main base. I have everything build, but I cannot figure out what I need for my minecart loading system. These are the main problems I am having:
1) I cannot use a system that uses a comparator detects if the hopper loading my minecart is empty or not. The tutorials I looked up on YouTube mainly were set up to power a powered rail under my minecart once the hopper above it was empty. Because my farm is so efficient, my hopper is never empty, and almost constantly being loaded with iron.
2) I tried to use a detector rail with a comparator to detect how full my minecart was. Obviously, that worked part worked perfectly, but now I have no clue how to get the minecart moving down the track again. I don't want to have to manually push it to the next powered rail, because that'd almost completely defeat the purpose of the system.
Any ideas on how I could fix this?
Thanks
You could very easily set the detector rail on an incline and put a block switcher that switches between a powered rail and a block. When the Minecart gets full, the pistons push the block out of the way and replace it with a powered rail. Gravity will pull the Minecart down and it will be on its way.
I went ahead and tried your idea in creative, and it seemed to work with one minor problem, which probably occurred because I suck with redstone. Here is the layout I have so far:
Top view:
Back side view of first piston/block set:
Basically, I have 2 detector rails, the front one detects and incoming cart, and triggers the first set of piston/blocks to move and trap the cart on the slant. I ended up having to hook up the second piston/block set to this same detector because when the cart would travel back down the rail after loading, it triggered the same first set of pistons to block the track, which in turn pushed the track out of the way. Hooking it up to the second piston pushed the track back into place right away. The second detector rail is where I am having problems. I have it hooked up to a comparator which runs into the second piston set to power the piston when the cart is full. However, I had to hook it up to the first set so that the pistons wouldn't retract and hold the cart in place during loading. Once it is finished loading, however, I need the power to the first pistons to cease so that I am able to retract the blocks in front of the cart. That is my problem, I don't know how to do that. How can I fix this? Also, is there a much simpler way to doing this? I feel like my set up is a bit bulky and inefficient.
Loading / Unloading systems are easy as pie. To be frank many people overcomplicate them with lines of repeaters, or complex flip-flops. All you really need is to do is use a second minecart with chest as your timer. When it has 'emptied a load' then it will send the signal that causes the loading cart to leave the loading station. Then wait till a new cart comes into the main station before reseting the timer.
You can do this in many different ways. Here is one elegant design;
It was a 4min knock up job, so I don't claim it is the smallest or simplest it could be.
Other good designs use multiple carts running on a loop, these can also be very effective, especially if you have large volumes of items to transfer. For example;
Forground is unloading, background is loading.
Because for every minecart with chest you have running, that is additional 'load/unloading' throughput.
No offence, the 'droppers spitting items onto track' doesn't appear to work. Tested;
If you mean to say use a minecart with hopper, you should say so and edit your above post. I would not recomend such a design because it adds to world lag, and thus is not server friendly. If you are using such a system, just have the hopper come round where all the items collect and dispense with the clocks and droppers.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I went ahead and continued to play with the sloped detector rail design I currently had, and I actually was able to fix my problem rather easily. I just added a second comparator to the side with my first piston set, and set it on subtraction mode. I then hooked up the first comparator to the second, so that once the cart was full and the redstone output was 15, it would subtract that signal on the second comparator. 15-15= no output, and the pistons retracted. When I have some more time I will play with the other designs a bit, and maybe try to improve on my own design. Still learning all the redstone functions.
1) I cannot use a system that uses a comparator detects if the hopper loading my minecart is empty or not. The tutorials I looked up on YouTube mainly were set up to power a powered rail under my minecart once the hopper above it was empty. Because my farm is so efficient, my hopper is never empty, and almost constantly being loaded with iron.
2) I tried to use a detector rail with a comparator to detect how full my minecart was. Obviously, that worked part worked perfectly, but now I have no clue how to get the minecart moving down the track again. I don't want to have to manually push it to the next powered rail, because that'd almost completely defeat the purpose of the system.
Any ideas on how I could fix this?
Thanks
You could very easily set the detector rail on an incline and put a block switcher that switches between a powered rail and a block. When the Minecart gets full, the pistons push the block out of the way and replace it with a powered rail. Gravity will pull the Minecart down and it will be on its way.
Hope this helps! If it doesn't, please reply.
Top view:
Back side view of first piston/block set:
Basically, I have 2 detector rails, the front one detects and incoming cart, and triggers the first set of piston/blocks to move and trap the cart on the slant. I ended up having to hook up the second piston/block set to this same detector because when the cart would travel back down the rail after loading, it triggered the same first set of pistons to block the track, which in turn pushed the track out of the way. Hooking it up to the second piston pushed the track back into place right away. The second detector rail is where I am having problems. I have it hooked up to a comparator which runs into the second piston set to power the piston when the cart is full. However, I had to hook it up to the first set so that the pistons wouldn't retract and hold the cart in place during loading. Once it is finished loading, however, I need the power to the first pistons to cease so that I am able to retract the blocks in front of the cart. That is my problem, I don't know how to do that. How can I fix this? Also, is there a much simpler way to doing this? I feel like my set up is a bit bulky and inefficient.
Thanks!
You can do this in many different ways. Here is one elegant design;
It was a 4min knock up job, so I don't claim it is the smallest or simplest it could be.
Other good designs use multiple carts running on a loop, these can also be very effective, especially if you have large volumes of items to transfer. For example;
Forground is unloading, background is loading.
Because for every minecart with chest you have running, that is additional 'load/unloading' throughput.
If you mean to say use a minecart with hopper, you should say so and edit your above post. I would not recomend such a design because it adds to world lag, and thus is not server friendly. If you are using such a system, just have the hopper come round where all the items collect and dispense with the clocks and droppers.