Splitters
< Transport network
Splitters can be used to split or join belts, but have many other not so obvious usages.
Items
| belt-type | factor speed | speed (tiles/sec) |
|---|---|---|
 |
1 | 1.875 |
| |
2 | 3.75 |
| |
3 | 5.625 |
Related: Transport belts, Underground belts Nearby: Inserters, Storages, Transport belts/Physics to dig deeper.
Basic
Task: Make a branch in the middle of a longer belt to deliver other parts of your factory.
- remove a belt-segment in this long belt
- select a splitter, rotate it into the right direction and place it into the gap
- the items continue to flow on the old belt, but you can now begin to built another belt from the second output of the splitter
- when you finished that and the belts are not jammed, then you can watch that every second incoming item is outputted on the new belt.
Advanced
For a more founded introduction into the belt mechanics see Belt transport system.
The behavior of splitters looks simple at first glance. But they are not that simple. Splitters have an astonishing amount of uses.
- splitters have two input-belt-sides and two output-belt-sides on which you can connect any belt or underground belt
- splitters don't shuffle the lanes on the belts; items on the left input belt lane don't change the side to the right lane (and vice versa).
- Splitting
- if two output-belts are connected, then every input-item is put alternated on one of the two output-belts. Or in other words: it is guaranteed, that the inputed items are output in a ratio of 50% on each belt.
- if one of the output belt lanes are full, then it tries to output on the other output belt. This is useful to fill belts.
- Joining File:T&T Belt04.jpgFeeding from side is only a good use, if you want to make a queue - e. g. for mines, some output-bufferFile:T&T Belt03.jpgBetter: The capacity of the output belt is fully used.
- splitters can be used to join two belts into one. This has a much higher throughput than only side-inserting.
- as with splitting, the belt lanes aren't mixed up.
- Use faster splitter if you want to feed into a faster belt, because otherwise your splitter is the bottleneck!
Expert
Special behavior
- Splitters/Priority: when both input belts are at full capacity, then the splitter prefers the left input, or in other words: the right input is only taken to fill gaps in the left input. This can be used to priorize an item-source, for example a storage. File:T&T Belt08.jpgLeft side: A splitter cascade to let only the unused items into the storage. Center: A simple storage. Right side: The splitter prefers taking the input of the upper (left) belt, so the input from the storage is lower priority.
- Splitters/When is a faster splitter needed?: a basic splitter can keep up with the input of one fast belt, if the two output belts are connected and empty.
Other Usages
- Splitters/Ratios: Use splitter to achive special ratios on the outputs
- Splitters/Cascading: Use Cascading to fill storages only, when not needed otherwise
- Splitters/Lane contributor: use the two lanes of a belt.
- Splitters/Joining: more explained
- Splitters/Wormhole Trick: items disappears on input side and dive up on output side, "jumping" over half a tile, which is when stacked up in a line of splitters like a wormhole. (Completely untested, just waked up and known that it must be like that - ssilk)
- Splitters/Constructions: Examples of using.