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[VectorSum]

I've been melting them but it seems very slow even with like 6 forges dedicated to melting. Seems kind of like melting a single bolt takes as long as melting a giant axe blade or something. oh well, guess I'll just keep doing it.

Note that melting is not exactly 100% efficient.....

do not ever have more than one smelter for melting down stuff. having only one smelter means you have less fractions of bars in limbo, so you don't have to micromanage imaginary chunks of bars in different smelters that you can never check on.

the wiki explains in great detail:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Melting

[Hyndis]

You can use it for automatic quantum stockpiling.

Have two stone stockpiles at different elevations. Have water flowing over the upper stockpile to the lower one, where it drains away. The stockpiles can be very small, that is fine.

You only need to push something 1-2 tiles, down to the lower stockpile. As it would be on the same kind of stockpile, such as a stone stockpile, no dwarf will move it elsewhere since its already where it should go. Dwarves will keep restocking the upper stockpile with things, where the water will then push them into the lower stockpile for automatic quantum stockpiling.

This should work for furniture, animal cages, wood, and stone. It may not work for anything in bins however.

[Buttery_Mess]

You can use it for automatic quantum stockpiling.

Have two stone stockpiles at different elevations. Have water flowing over the upper stockpile to the lower one, where it drains away. The stockpiles can be very small, that is fine.

You only need to push something 1-2 tiles, down to the lower stockpile. As it would be on the same kind of stockpile, such as a stone stockpile, no dwarf will move it elsewhere since its already where it should go. Dwarves will keep restocking the upper stockpile with things, where the water will then push them into the lower stockpile for automatic quantum stockpiling.

This should work for furniture, animal cages, wood, and stone. It may not work for anything in bins however.

Of course! Genius! This would be perfect for my wood stockpile. I'd say have a cookie, but since this is Dwarf Fortress, have a mule tallow prickle berry seed biscuit.

[darkflagrance]

I've been melting them but it seems very slow even with like 6 forges dedicated to melting. Seems kind of like melting a single bolt takes as long as melting a giant axe blade or something. oh well, guess I'll just keep doing it.

Note that melting is not exactly 100% efficient.....

do not ever have more than one smelter for melting down stuff. having only one smelter means you have less fractions of bars in limbo, so you don't have to micromanage imaginary chunks of bars in different smelters that you can never check on.

the wiki explains in great detail:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Melting

This might be a problem if you're melting items of many different metals, but if you're only melting iron, or perhaps only iron, copper, and bronze, you're expecting an infinite number for the foreseeable future. Assuming an infinite flow of metals, you will never have a fraction of metal lost in limbo at any one melting smelter as long as metals are continually smelted and those fractions can be recombined. I used to worry about inefficiency, but having the ability to process sieges faster allows you to reduce the stockpile space/fps used to manage the different items and to use the resources gained more quickly.

[Razonatair]

Actually I read somewhere that melting down bolts is greater than 100% efficient. Is this still true?

Yeah. Melting a single bolt to I think a stack of 10 bolts returns .1 bars. A weaponsmith produces 25 bolts to the bar. This means, if melted individually, these 25 bolts would return 2.5 bars. You just have to have enough individual bolts be both retrievable and unbroken, and you'll pull >100%, with the possibility of 250% efficiency.

[Girlinhat]

The issue, is getting the bolts out individually.  You need 10 surviving bolts of 25 to break even.  The best bet may be the old "bronze colossus on an island" bit.

[o_O[WTFace]]

I believe someone came up with a (theoretical) way to return 100% of used bolts.  Basically you stick an enemy on an isolated island thing and have a row of doors or floodgates and a row of channels next to them.  The doors are set on a repeater or something to constantly open and close. 

g.X.++++(dwarf)

Door opens --> marksdorf fires --> doors close --> bolts hit doors and fall down without breaking --> solid admantine castle. 

[expwnent]

I've been melting them but it seems very slow even with like 6 forges dedicated to melting. Seems kind of like melting a single bolt takes as long as melting a giant axe blade or something. oh well, guess I'll just keep doing it.

Note that melting is not exactly 100% efficient.....

Actually, melting bolts is MORE than 100% efficient.

[ral]

I know about the fractional bar issue, but melting stuff down is so incredibly slow that I'd rather just dedicate multiple smelters to the process and let the chips fall where they may rather than take years to melt all this stuff.

[TheyTarget]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You've made my day. Thank you.

[SuicideJunkie]

For a metal generator that doesn't need any mechanics (other than a drawbridge to provide access to the loot):
Soul-Fired, Bolt Catalyzed Steel Generator

[noppa354]

I'm thinking of a !!FACTORY FORTRESS!! that uses liquid conveyor belts, quantum stockpiles, burrows, and other stuff to make various products. There will be several production lines, which consist of INPUT-->CONVEYOR-->WORKSHOP-->CONVEYOR-->WORKSHOP-->CONVEYOR, etc.
Each line will produce one type of item, for example the bone craft line, the gem line, the metalcraft line, etc. Some lines will have other mechanisms, for example any that use bones will have 2 inputs, a serrated disk trap grinder to throw sentients into to dissect them (so they produce as many bones as possible once they decompose), and a normal DROP THE STUFF IN THE HOLE input.

[Girlinhat]

The bolt separation method seems to work best when using a very long firing range and live targets (not archery targets).  So, if the bolt hits the enemy, it gets stuck and can be retrieved.  If it misses, it falls and you can pick it up from the level below.

[Razonatair]

I know about the fractional bar issue, but melting stuff down is so incredibly slow that I'd rather just dedicate multiple smelters to the process and let the chips fall where they may rather than take years to melt all this stuff.

If you're processing a lot of the same material, it is ultimately more efficient time-wise to just assign two or three smelters to the work. Chances are you won't get more than a bar in limbo.

[Hyndis]

I know about the fractional bar issue, but melting stuff down is so incredibly slow that I'd rather just dedicate multiple smelters to the process and let the chips fall where they may rather than take years to melt all this stuff.

If you're processing a lot of the same material, it is ultimately more efficient time-wise to just assign two or three smelters to the work. Chances are you won't get more than a bar in limbo.

Yup, if you're recycling a goblin siege go ahead and have 5+ magma smelters all melting it down. It saves time and you'll recover the fractional amounts of metal anyways.