Normally for my AE setups where items are required to be smelted (Rubber / Plastic) I like to create a buffer of items, so I have an exporter setup with a level emitter and an oven the says, if the amount of plastic is lower than X in the network, export rubber into the oven.
What normally happens is I end up with around 64 more than I want since they are all in the oven when the level emitter finally fires. This works fine until the items are very expensive (Advanced Processor). I don't want to use 64 more diamonds than I need.
How do I configure my network to always have 10 items in my buffer, and if it is less than 10, make the exact amount needed, accounting for the delay and internal buffer of the oven?
— I'm currently doing this in Agrarian Skies.
Best Answer
I'm sure there are more compact ways, so if someone shows me one I'll give them the answer, but this is what I came up with:
It's kind of hard to see, so let me explain what happens if it's setup for Advanced Processors:
A Chest is setup with a Precision Exporter, crafting/exporting an Advanced Processor Assembly into the chest, configured to pulse mode, with a Level Emitter setup to emit a signal if the Advanced Processor Levels are below or equal to the limit you desire -1 (so if you want a buffer of 16, it would be 15). This serves as the trigger to the system.
A Comparator is setup on the Chest as well, feeding into both an AND gate and into a Precision Import Bus, set to to be active without signal. When the trigger from the Comparator hits the Import Bus, the item is sucked out of the chest. This provides a locking mechanism to only put one item in the furnace at a time.
Another Level Emitter is setup exactly like the first, but serves as the other input to the AND gate.
The output of the AND gate is fed via a RedNet Cable into another Precision Export Bus, set to export an Advanced Processor Assembly with a redstone pulse. This ensures that an Advanced Processor Assembly is only ever inserted, if more Advanced Processors are still required (Left side of the AND) and an item has just come out of the furnace (Right side of the AND)