Inserters
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 of them but the Burner Inserter, which requires fuel, using electricity.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Many behavioral things described on this page have changes with version 0.12. Be careful, this page is not fully updated yet!
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.
- Inserters will always place the item on the furthest lane.
- Inserters prefer taking items from the
nearestfarest (since v0.11!) lane. The picture is wrong!
- The behvior of this has changed completely with v0.12: This works now as described in this article: http://www.factorioforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16595
When the direction of the inserter and the belt are the same, the inserter will place items in the direction of their rotation. By default, this is the top for horizontal belts, or the left for vertical belts. When taking from a belt, this direction might change.
- 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
- The electric driven inserters have a power-drain. This means, they are using energy, even when not moving.
- The energy usage is a fixed amount per movement. This is for all inserters the same.
- The Burner inserter has no drain, but uses more energy. It is quite useful for jobs, which don't need to move 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
0.01 0.02 |
0.6 1.2 |
1.667 0.833 |
| |
0.014 0.028 |
0.84 1.68 |
1.191 0.595 |
| |
0.02 0.04 |
1.2 2.4 |
0.833 0.416 |
| |
0.035 0.07 |
2.1 4.2 |
0.476 0.238 |
 |
0.035 0.07 |
2.1 4.2 |
0.476 0.238 |
Rotation speed
Convention: 2π rad = 100% of a circle rotation = 1 turn (or one full rotation).
Note, that an Inserter doesn't always need to make full turns. There are several situations, where you can optimize the angles (and so the speed) of inserters by placing them not in the symmetry axis!
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!).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| |
180 kW (burner) | Most basic inserter, needs burning fuel. |
 |
13 kW | Basic electric inserter. |
| |
18 kW | Basic inserter able to grab Items from 2 tiles distance. |
| |
30 kW | Working at double speed. |
|
40 kW | Able to connect to Circuit network and Logistic network, to specify working conditions. Can grab also specified item types only. |
See also
Special behavior
- Inserters/Interaction with other Entities
- Inserters/Instead of belt: Use it instead of a belt
- 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