Mechanical Press

The Mechanical Press is a mechanical component that applies Pressing, Packing, and Compacting recipes to items below it. It is an important early-game item, as it is used to press Ingots into Sheets, which are important ingredients for higher-level components.

The Mechanical Press is powered by an internal Shaft, accessed from two opposite sides. Much like Shafts, Presses will relay rotation along their axis. It processes items faster when it receives faster rotational power.

Obtaining

Crafting

Name	Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
Mechanical Press	Shaft + Andesite Casing + Block of Iron

Usage

Pressing

By default, the Mechanical Press will apply Pressing recipes to items underneath it. This can be set up in two ways:

• When placed one space above any block, it will process all valid items on the block when given rotational power. Items with no pressing recipe are unaffected.
• When placed one space above a Mechanical Belt, it will automatically press incoming items, stalling the belt until each operation is done. Items with no pressing recipe are ignored.

Pressing recipes cannot be applied in bulk (unless you change the Config.)

Name	Ingredients	Pressing Recipe
Iron Sheet	Iron Ingot
Golden Sheet	Gold Ingot
Copper Sheet	Copper Ingot
Brass Sheet	Brass Ingot
Paper	Sugar Cane
Grass Path	Dirt or Podzol or Grass Block

Packing

When a Mechanical Press is placed above a Basin, it will apply Packing or Compacting recipes to ingredients in the Basin. Packing and Compacting recipes are applied one at a time and cannot be applied in bulk.

Packing recipes are any 2x2 or 3x3 crafting recipe that uses the same item in every slot. Some examples are:

Name	Ingredients	Packing Recipe
White Wool	String
Slime Block	Slimeball

The Mechanical Press will begin packing items as soon as there are enough of the same item.

Compacting

When a Mechanical Press is placed above a Basin, it will apply Packing or Compacting recipes to ingredients in the Basin. Packing and Compacting recipes are applied one at a time and cannot be applied in bulk. Compacting recipes are following:

Name	Ingredients	Compacting Recipe
Honey Block	1000mB of Honey
Blaze Cake Base	Egg + Sugar + Cinder Flour
Bar of Chocolate	250mB of Chocolate
Andesite	Flint + Gravel + 100mB of Lava	2
Diorite	Flint + Calcite + 100mB of Lava	2
Granite	Flint + Red Sand + 100mB of Lava	2

The Press will automatically process any valid recipe it detects inside the Basin, regardless if there are leftovers inside, as long as the Basin has inventory space remaining. To follow a specific recipe, place a filter on the filter slot and choose your wanted output.

Speed

The Press takes a certain amount of time to process each item. The only parameter that affects the processing speed is the input rotational speed.

Formula

The speed at which the Mechanical Press processes items can be calculated with the following formula:

$t_p=\frac{240}{\lfloor 1+\max (0,\min (1,\frac{\left|k\right|}{512}))\times 59\rfloor }$

where $k$ is the input RPM and $t_p$ is the amount of ticks it takes to process an item. Since the game runs at 20 ticks per second, the formula can be rewritten as

$t_p=\frac{12}{\lfloor 1+\max (0,\min (1,\frac{\left|k\right|}{512}))\times 59\rfloor }$

to get the number of seconds.

Here are precomputed values for common speeds:

RPM	Processing time (sec/item)	Throughput (items/sec)
1	12	0.083
16	6	0.167
32	3	0.333
64	1.5	0.667
128	0.8	1.25
256	0.4	2.5

History

Version	Changes
0.1	Added the Mechanical Press.
0.2.3	Fixed typo in the Mechanical Press tooltip.
0.3	Added recipe type for custom Basin/Press compacting. The Mechanical Press and similar processing can no longer commence whenever there is a block with a collision shape between the item and the machine. The Mechanical Press now operates faster on faster input speed. The Mechanical Press no longer requires a redstone signal to activate on in-world items. Basins can no longer be placed directly under a Mechanical Press or Mixer.
0.3b	Fixed Mechanical Press making constant noise when stopped at a specific frame.
0.3.1	Pressing recipes on Mechanical Belts now take probabilities into account.
0.3.1c	The Mechanical Press can no longer create sheets in bulk, unless Configured otherwise. Fixed the Mechanical Press missing items passing on a belt while retracting. Fixed the Mechanical Press not retracting when items were removed early. The Mechanical Press now makes less noise when pressing onto wool or belts.
0.3.2	Fixed the Mechanical Press advancement not firing when used with a Depot. Added support for Sequenced Assembly to the Mechanical Press, Deployer, Spout and Mechanical Saw. Added pressing recipes for path blocks from Environmental, Atmospheric and BetterEnd. Remove podzol from the grass pressing recipe and add a compatibility recipe for Environmental's Podzol Path.
0.5	Recipe changed.