Conveyor Loader

The Conveyor Loader is a rail logistics building used to load solid materials onto conveyor rails. It accepts items from Auto-Sweepers and, if manual delivery is enabled, from Duplicants as well, then sends the stored contents down the rail according to its settings. Material filters can be used to control which resources are loaded, making it useful for sorting, shipping, and automated factory layouts.

When enabled, the Conveyor Loader will transfer items into the rail network normally. When it is disabled by automation, it still accepts deliveries, but it does not output them to the rail; instead, it stores the items internally. This can be used as a temporary buffer, but if you want to prevent items from entering the loader at all, a Mechanized Airlock can be used to physically block access between the loader and the Auto-Sweeper.

Its internal storage is limited to 1000 kg, which is equal to about 50 tiles of rail network worth of material. Because of this, it is often useful to place a nearby Storage Bin or otherwise avoid leaving it as the only buffer in a production line. The loader takes about 50 seconds to fully unload 1000 kg onto the rail, averaging 20 kg/s. This matters when pairing it with an Auto-Sweeper: the sweeper does not need to run continuously at full power for the entire unloading period, and a timer sensor can be used to reduce wasted power. Auto-Sweepers must remain enabled for about 4 seconds to reliably pick up and store a single item.

The Conveyor Loader’s stored items do not exchange heat directly with the building itself, but they do exchange heat with the tile behind the conveyor output and the tile below that tile. This makes placement important when handling hot cargo. If the goal is to keep items hot while still cooling the loader, placing the building sideways and managing the surrounding tiles with liquid and vacuum can isolate the cargo from unwanted heat transfer. In practice, the output side is the key area to control, especially if the rail line passes through temperature-sensitive rooms.

• Disabled loaders can still be filled by Auto-Sweepers and Duplicants, but the contents stay inside until the loader is re-enabled.
• A Mechanized Airlock can block Auto-Sweepers from depositing into the loader.
• Material filters determine which resources are loaded onto the rail.
• The 1000 kg capacity is large enough to buffer production, but small enough that high-throughput lines may need additional storage.