Inserters

File:Mpstark-KVmf6LZ.gif

Inserters are devices which are used to move items over short distances. When placed, they have a fixed direction. They can move items from behind and place them in front of them, this way, they can move items from one transport belt to another, but also extract items from and insert items into machines or storage devices. There are five types of inserters, all requiring electricity to run (except the Burner Inserter, which burns fuel).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Many behavioral things described on this page have changes with version 0.12. Be careful, this page is not fully updated yet! New (experimental) 0.13 update also divides inserters in 2 categories : normal ones and stack inserters. Only the stack inserters can move more than 2 items at a time but consume a lot more of electricity, compared to 0.12.

Mechanics

Inserters will:

• Pick up Items off the Ground, off a Transport belt, or from any object that has storage space for stacks (including chests, furnaces and assembling machines)
• Place the item onto the ground, onto a transport belt, or into any object that has storage space for stacks.

Inserters act differently depending on what they are moving items to/into so as not to monopolize all of the items being picked up. This allows other machines and inserters on the same transport belt to pick up a share of the items. If two inserters are picking up from the same tile, the first placed inserter has priority.

Insertion limits

Inserters will stop inserting items into certain buildings if they already have enough of that item. For example, if a boiler has 5 or more items of fuel in it, an inserter will not insert additional fuel. When the fuel drops below 5 items, the inserter will continue to insert more fuel, up to the limit of 5 items.

The reason for this behavior is, that otherwise the buffers would get too big; you would have resource problems for things further down the chain/line if the first things where trying to fill the input slot constantly.

Entity	Item type	Inserter limit	Comment
Boilers, Burner inserters, Furnaces	Fuel	5	Modders should avoid recipes for furnaces with fuel.
Gun turrets	Magazines	10	Since v0.8.4
Assembling machines	Items needed for the recipe	Double the number of items needed in the recipe
Furnaces	Items needed for the recipe	Double the number of items needed in the recipe
Labs	Science packs	Double the number of items needed for one research point

An inserter that takes items from an object containing stacks of items (such as a chest) can overfill the target building due to the Inserter item stack size. Overfilling can also happen if you use multiple inserters to insert items into the building.

Inserters and transport belts

Transport belts have two lanes on which items can travel. Inserters only place items onto one side of the belt. Which side they place it on depends on the orientation of the inserter and the belt, as described below. If you want to rearrange the items once they are on a belt see Transport_belts/Belt_lane#Changing_side_of_lane.

File:PlaceOnFarSide.gif

• Inserters will always place the item on the furthest lane.

File:TakeFromNearSide.gif

• Inserters prefer taking items from the nearest lane.

File:PlaceOnRightSide.gif

• If a belt is in the same orientation as the inserter, the item will be placed on the right-hand lane, from the belt's perspective.

File:PlaceOnInsideOfCorner.gif

• If the item is placed on a corner piece, it will be put on the inside of the curve, regardless of orientation.

• Inserters can place items on all types of conveyor belts (with v0.12 there is no limitation to splitters anymore; placing in curves will not longer have a chance to block).
• Inserters try to pick up items from all types of belts (with v0.12 there is no limitation anymore).
• Inserters have problems picking up items
  • From fast belts, because the items are moving too quickly. (basic inserters cannot pick up from express belt for example, every try uses energy, burner inserters might not pick up from fast belts)
  • From the entry or exit of an underground belt (because the time they have to pick up is shorter)

Inserter Item Stack Size Bonus

If an inserter moves items from stack to stack (for example from an assembler into a chest), it is able to transport more items at once. The secret behind this is the Inserter item stack size bonus.

Power usage

• Electric inserters drain energy even when they are not moving
• The amount of energy used is the same for every movement
• The Burner inserter does not drain energy when idle, but uses more energy when it is active. It is quite useful for situations where inserters do not need to move very often.
• Inserter Power Efficiency: Movements per energy and exact power usage numbers. See also this thread, where energy per movement is explained.
• Small Inserter Test: Comparison if energy usage per item.
• Inserter heartbeats: In some situations it is not possible to calculate the needed power usage.

Inserter speed

Type	Rotation-speed (turns per Tick) Extension-speed (Tiles per Tick)	Turns per Game-second Tiles per Game-second	Game-second per full turn Game-seconds per Tile
File:Burner-inserter.png Burner inserter	0.01 0.02	0.6 1.2	1.667 0.833
File:Basic-inserter.png Basic inserter	0.014 0.03	0.84 1.8	1.191 0.56
File:Long-handed-inserter.png Long handed inserter	0.02 0.04	1.2 2.4	0.833 0.416
File:Fast-inserter.png Fast inserter	0.04 0.07	2.4 4.2	0.417 0.238
Smart inserter	0.04 0.07	2.4 4.2	0.417 0.238

Rotation speed

Convention: 2π rad = 100% of a circle rotation = 1 turn (or one full rotation).

Note, an Inserter doesn't always need to make full turns. When grabbing from a transport belt, it is slightly faster when grabbing items from the closest lane.

Extension speed

The extension-speed is normally not visible (only when compared to other inserters), but there are measurable speed differences when taking - for example - from the near or the far side of a belt.

This effect is also important for Train stations, when unloading items from wagons, cause the inserters needs to stretch out to the center of a wagon, which is some tiles long and leads to visible slower speed.

The extension speed is especially important for train unloading (not loading!).

Inserter throughput

For an inserter removing items from a chest and placing them on a straight, empty belt (experimentally measured to ±0.004, valid at least thru 0.12.33):

Type	Items per Game-second Inserter facing East/West/South	Items per Game-second Inserter facing North
File:Burner-inserter.png Burner inserter	0.588	0.579
File:Basic-inserter.png Basic inserter	0.831	0.820
File:Long-handed-inserter.png Long handed inserter	1.153	1.129
File:Fast-inserter.png Fast inserter	2.306	2.220
Smart inserter	2.306	2.220

Actual rates may vary for different types of transfers (see also the note about inserter paths in the inserter speed section above).

Movement and energy usage

The energy usage is not dependend on the amount of rotation or extension, it is depending if the inserter starts an action, which is like grabbing, moving, release and returning. The entry and exit-piece of underground belts is technically only a half belt. Inserters will have problems to grab/place items from there and every try costs energy.

Types

Type	Maximum power	Description
File:Burner-inserter.png Burner Inserter	180 kW (burner)	Most basic inserter, needs burning fuel.
File:Basic-inserter.png Inserter	13 kW	Basic electric inserter.
File:Long-handed-inserter.png Long handed inserter	18 kW	Basic inserter able to grab Items from 2 tiles distance.
File:Fast-inserter.png Fast inserter	30 kW	Working at double speed.
Smart inserter	40 kW	Able to connect to Circuit network and Logistic network, to specify working conditions. Can grab also specified item types only.

See also

• Electric network
• Transport network

Special behavior

• Inserters/Interaction with other Entities
• Inserter item stack size: Inserter moves more than an item per turn, works only for transport from stack to stack
• Inserters:Focus/Grep-Points
• Storages/Sorting (extended filtering)
• Pick up only, if everything else is full
• Inserter experiments
• Use inserters instead of belts