First i created a double smelting array (before the inserter compression update) and that worked really well for me. With this new update where inserters will compress the belt for you i though i would try upgrading it to 3 blue belts of plates between 1 row of beacons. And it works!
First i made a smelt array of 12 smelters, 6 for each side of the blue belt. This will not fully compress the belt but i added 2 extra smelters at the end of the whole column to fill those gaps. Then i added the seccond and third 12 smelters. I had to fiddle around with the belts to make it go where i want it to go but i managed to only skip 3 places in my smelt array to accomplish this.
The build uses 100MW of power. And i added some lamps to help in the night time.
I have cut the image into 3:
- Top (12 smelters, output of plates, 2 extra furnaces for filling gaps)
- Middle (12 smelters)
- Bottom (input of 3 (or 2.5) blue belt of ore, 12 smelters)
Top Middle Bottom Tell me what you guys think of it. Right now i am extending this to the sides for more output. I am also thinking of shutting down whole columns if there is not enough ore with a power switch, but for that i have to manualy fix all the powerlines which im not looking forward to.
Blueprint string