Inserters
< Transport network
Inserters are the fundamental components used to move items from one part of the factory to another. They are a vital component in almost all contraptions. They look and operate like a robot arm: they take items from behind and place them in front. For example, inserters can move items between machines, into or out of storage (such as chests) or onto transport belts.
Inserter 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.
| 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 nearest lane.
- 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.
- The end of the belt places the items onto the next Tile. Therefore, an inserter placed just past the end of the belt will be able to pick up items coming off of the belt. The end of the belt should be placed just before the inserter, to prevent two items from getting left at the end of the belt. This makes an inserter actually also faster, cause the item doesn't move here and he needs not to rotate so much, as when the item comes along with the belt. This can be clearly seen in the picture: the taking inserter is faster than the putting, cause he needs not to rotate the full 180 degrees, like his left neighbor.
- Inserters can place items on
- All types of conveyor belts
- Underground belt entrances and exits
- Curves, however there is a high chance that the items will block
- Inserters cannot place items on splitters
- Inserters can pick up items from
- Splitters
- The first half of the conveyor belt
- Inserters have problems picking up items
- From fast belts, because the items are moving too quickly.
- From curves (Burner inserters can't pick from curves: http://www.factorioforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5678 )
- From the entry or exit of an underground belt
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.
- Inserters/Reduce power consumption
- Inserter heartbeats: In some situations it is not possible to calculate the needed power usage.
Inserter speed
| Item-type | Rotation-speed (turn per Tick) Extension-speed (Tile per Tick) |
turn / Game-second Tile / Game-second |
Rotations (full turns!) per Game-second Extension per Game-second (sec/Tile) |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
0.01 turn/tick 0.02 tile/tick |
0.6 turn/sec 1.2 tile/sec |
1.667 sec/full turn 0.833 sec/tile |
| |
0.014 turn/tick 0.028 tile/tick |
0.84 turn/sec 1.68 tile/sec |
1.191 sec/full turn 0.595 sec/tile |
| |
0.02 turn/tick 0.04 tile/tick |
1.2 turn/sec 2.4 tile/sec |
0.833 sec/full turn 0.416 sec/tile |
| |
0.035 turn/tick 0.07 tile/tick |
2.1 turn/sec 4.2 tile/sec |
0.476 sec/full turn 0.238 sec/tile |
 |
0.035 turn/tick 0.07 tile/tick |
2.1 turn/sec 4.2 tile/sec |
0.476 sec/full turn 0.238 sec/tile |
Fast inserter and smart inserter have the same speed.
Rotation speed
Convention: 2π rad = 100% of a circle rotation = 1 turn (or one full rotation).
Note, that an Inserter doesn't need always 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. Inserter will have problems to grab/place items from there and every try costs energy.
Types
| Item-type | Max power | Description |
|---|---|---|
| |
180 W (burner) | Most basic inserter, needs burning fuel. |
 |
13 W | Basic electric inserter. |
| |
18 W | Basic inserter able to grab Items from 2 tiles distance. |
| |
30 W | Working at double speed. |
|
40 W | Able to connect to Circuit network and Logistic network, to specify working conditions. Can grab also specified item types only. |
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
- Inserters/Priority
- Storages/Sorting (extended filtering)
- Pick up only, if everything else is full