Macerator
alaindustrial:macerator
Summary
The Macerator is the early-game ore-doubling machine. Feed it ore or metal and it grinds the stuff into dust — and a mined ore block gives you two dusts instead of one, which is the whole point of building one. It's the first machine worth running a cable for.
Mini-example: drop an iron ore block (or the raw drop) in, let it spin, and out come two iron dusts. Smelt those and one vein has just paid out two ingots instead of one.
| Input type | Example | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Ore block | iron ore (regular + deepslate) | ×2 dust |
| Raw ore | the raw drop from the ore | ×2 dust |
| Ingot | a finished ingot | ×1 dust |
Doubling is granted for both an ore block and the raw ore: the macerator doubles whatever you feed it. The ingot stays ×1 (net-zero, otherwise you could loop "ingot → dust → ingot" for free doubling). This is the first machine worth building an energy network for.
Energy
The Macerator only consumes EU/FE and holds a little buffer so it keeps grinding smoothly even when the supply is uneven.
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Internal buffer | 800 EU/FE |
| Max input | 32 EU/FE/t (LV) |
| Consumption | 2 EU/FE/t while working |
An LV machine — it draws up to 32 EU/FE per tick. If the network has more energy, the surplus just isn't taken; nothing explodes. Energy comes in on the five working faces. The front face (the one the machine "looks" toward) is inert — cables don't connect there and hoppers don't work through it.
Processing
Each grind takes 150 ticks (~7.5 s) and pulls EU/FE from the buffer. The finished dust doesn't pop into a chest by itself — pick it up by hand or with a hopper.
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Duration | 150 ticks (~7.5 s) |
| Cost per operation | 300 EU/FE |
| Auto-output | no |
Inventory
One input slot, one output slot. You can't push anything into the output — it holds only the result.
| Slot | Takes | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Input | items the Macerator can grind | 1 |
| Output | the result only (insertion blocked) | 1 |
Interface
One screen shows the energy buffer, the progress arrow, the input slot and the output slot.
Block Properties
An ordinary solid block, softer than stone. Any pickaxe breaks it, but it does NOT keep its charge when broken.
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Tool | pickaxe |
| Keeps charge on break | no |
Recipes
The Macerator itself is crafted at a workbench: a piece of flint on top, cobblestone along the sides and bottom corners, an Electronic Circuit in the centre, and a Silver Ingot at the bottom-centre. What it grinds, and what you get back: Ore block and raw ore → 2 dust. Doubling is granted for both inputs — this is the macerator's main payoff: two ingots from one vein instead of one, whether you mined the block or the raw drop. Finished ingot → 1 dust. Net-zero, so doubling cannot be looped ("ingot → dust → ingot").
| Input | Output | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ore block (iron, copper, gold, tin, silver, nickel, uranium — regular + deepslate) | ×2 dust | the doubling payoff — two ingots from one vein |
| Raw ore (the raw drop from the ore) | ×2 dust | the second doubled form — macerate both the block and the raw |
| Finished ingot | ×1 dust | an intermediate form, ×1 (otherwise doubling would loop) |
The same scheme covers non-metal dusts (coal, diamond, emerald, lapis): ore → ×2 dust, the pure item → ×1. One exception worth knowing: lapis ore → 6 dust (vanilla lapis ore already drops 4–9, so a plain ×2 would have made grinding pointless).
Progression
Tier: LV. The starter grinder and the reason to build your first energy network. It doesn't evolve into anything in v0.1 — an MV-grade grinder is a separate future block. Needs power from an LV source, e.g. a Generator.
Related
Generator — the typical power source for this machine. Electric Furnace — smelts the dust back into ingots. Compressor — closes the loop for non-metal dusts (coal, diamond…). Electronic Circuit — the component it's built from.
Crafting
Shaped Crafting
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Macerator