Grinder (RotaryCraft)

The Grinder is a machine in RotaryCraft. It grinds Ore blocks into Ore Flakes, and Canola Seeds into Lubricant.

Usage
The Grinder is one of the first machines that should be constructed in RotaryCraft. Its most important function is its ability to process Canola Seeds to produce the Lubricant used by Gearboxes. However, it is also used to grind Soul Sand into Tar Sand and Netherrack into Netherrack Dust, both of which are used to produce Jet Fuel in the Fractionation Unit. As a third purpose, the Grinder can be used as an early form of ore processing. Ore Blocks can be placed in a Grinder to process them into 3 Ore Flakes. This function is less output-efficient than the Extractor, but is available much sooner. Slight caution is required around an active Grinder, as it will cause 1 point of damage every 10 ticks to any entity standing on top of it.

The Grinder accepts its power from its back side. Its power consumption is low enough that in theory 4 DC Electric Engines or 1 Wind Turbine could power it, however both would require significant use of Gearboxes and is not recommended. A Gasoline Engine produces enough Torque to power a Grinder directly, but consumes Ethanol Crystals as fuel. The best way of initially powering a Grinder is therefore a Steam Engine, connected to a 4x Wooden or Stone Gearbox.

The Grinder functions more rapidly when fed higher Speeds, using the following formula (as listed in the RotaryCraft Handbook:

At absolute minimum speed (1 Rad/sec), a Grinder requires 42 seconds (840 ticks) to grind a single item. When powered by a Steam Engine adjusted to 4x Torque (128 Rad/sec), a Grinder requires 23.95 seconds (479 ticks) to grind a single item. When powered by 4 Steam Engines or 1 Gasoline Engine, a Grinder requires 18 seconds (360 ticks) to grind a single item. This means that 3 items can be ground per Ethanol Crystal used in a directly connected Gasoline Engine. A speed of 32768 Rad/sec (4.194MW Power) is required to operate a Grinder at maximum speed, 1 tick per operation. In layman's terms, every time the input speed is doubled, the processing time decreases by 3 seconds.