ME Molecular Assembler Chamber

This page covers content or features that are no longer available in newer mod versions. Information on this article does not apply to most recent versions of the respective mod, the described features have been deprecated or removed.

Note:Using a later version of Applied Energistics? See the  Molecular Assembler instead.

The ME Molecular Assembler Chamber is an advanced multi-block structure from the Applied Energistics mod. When connected to an ME Network, and having the correct items available, it can use ME Pattern Provider to produce craft-able items on demand. This saves the user a considerable amount of time, both in not having to find the required items within their network that they need to craft the item and in completing crafting chains. (As long as the correct patterns are available.)

The Chamber is comprised of the following blocks:

• ME Assembler Containment Wall
• ME Heat Vent
• ME Pattern Provider
• ME Crafting CPU (Optional)

Construction

Requirements

This structure can be built in any shape or size as long as the following criteria are met. (Some versions limit size and shape to a cubed shape)

• All edges must be ME Assembler Containment Walls.
• All non-edge sides must be ME Heat Vents.
• All internal blocks must be either ME Pattern Providers or ME Crafting CPUs. Air or other blocks may not be used.
• There must be at least 1 ME Pattern Provider.

Basic Setup

The simplest construction is a 3x3x3 block consisting of the following:

• First level: 1 ME Heat Vent surrounded by 8 ME Assembler Containment Walls
• Second level: 4 ME Assembler Containment Walls in each corner, 1 ME Pattern Provider in the middle, the remaining 4 blocks ME Heat Vents
• Third level: 1 ME Heat Vent surrounded by 8 ME Assembler Containment Walls

If completed correctly, the texture of the edge ME Assembler Containment Wall blocks will change from a dot to a line. NOTE: This device must be connected to an ME Network for it to be useful.

A spreadsheet calculating the required components and their material cost can be found here.

Crafting Items

Once there is an ME Encoded Assembler Pattern in the ME Molecular Assembler Chamber on the ME Network, even if the system runs out of that item, it will still show up in the terminal. It will have the word "Craft" where the number usually is. Click on a craft item, then enter how many you want, and press "Begin". The system will start using any resources it has available to craft your request.

If the required items are unavailable, it will continue to wait for ingredients until it has the materials to craft with, or until the crafting job is canceled. This can be done with an ME Crafting Monitor, which can check status on required or missing materials for a current job, or cancel it. If an ME Crafting Monitor is unavailable, crafting operations can be canceled by causing the ME Controller to reboot by adding or breaking an ME Block in the ME Network.

This is useful for regular crafting patterns, but doesn't help if you need to furnace or use another mod's crafting block. That's where external processing comes in.

Crafting Using External Processing

The ME Interface allows inputs and outputs for crafting. By putting a ME Encoded Assembler Pattern into the ME Interface's processing slots, these will be seen as crafting options as well.

If there are BC pipes connected to the ME Interface with a ME Encoded Assembler Pattern; or if the ME Interface touches an inventory such as the top of a furnace (lower priority than pipes), it will send items into the pipe/inventory. Anything can be encoded in a ME Blank Pattern, even things that are not possible. If you put in impossible recipes, some things may not work. Also, pay careful attention to the number of items required and exported. For instance, most ores give two dusts when ground, but some give more or less (like Glowstone or Quartz).

Once an item gets sent into the furnace, it needs to be removed. BuildCraft Pipes or Pneumatic Tubes can be used to pull the item out and send it into an ME Interface. ME Import Bus can be used to pull the items directly back into the network. Remember to consider the time it takes for items to travel in pipes or get pulled from the machines, as well as how fast the machines themselves are.

Pre-Crafting

Since the crafting of some items can take time (if ingredients require external processing), it can be useful to craft them before they are needed. This can be done with a precision export bus pointing into an interface anywhere in the system (they can be from different systems or the same system). For instance, if you wish to craft all sandstone you have into smooth sandstone, a ME Molecular Assembler Chamber can be set up with a smooth sandstone recipe, then point an export bus at an interface (both must connect to your systems), and tell the interface to always craft smooth sandstone. The bus will then always try to craft smooth sandstone and push it into the interface, returning it to the system (or to a new system). Up to 8 items can be set up in this way with a single bus.

If pre-crafting up to a certain level is desired, it becomes necessary to add a ME Level Emitter. For instance, if a furnace is set up with an interface recipe to smelt sand into glass, and you want to always have, for example, 512 glass on hand (but not smelt all the sand you have), it is possible to set up a level emitter next to the precision export bus to emit a signal if you have fewer than 512 glass, then set the bus to always craft glass (which it is pushing into an interface) if it has a signal. Your furnace will now smelt glass any time your system has less than 512 glass in it, making the crafting of items which need glass much faster.

Note

• In order to use this structure for pattern-based crafting the optional ME Crafting CPU is required and to see the status of a crafting job; for example, what items are missing; an ME Crafting Monitor is required. The ME Crafting Monitor also allows you to cancel a job. (Changing any part of the ME Network will reboot the ME Controller also cancelling all pending crafting jobs.)