Best sorting system

Use Relay instead combination of chest+timer.
Then use restriction tube to the recycler and every item, which can't go into chest, goes into recycler.

hmmmmm the storage of my own mining ship is 10*11*12 blocks big and can handle 72-double-chests. it's very very cramped but has a lot of space. i used a linear sorting machine array below where every machine manages 6 chests. if a machine can't identify an item it goes into default to the next machine and so on. the chests itself are stacked up to 6chests each row, so it's like a six blocks high wall of chests. remember that a chest or a frame without panel/cover won't block you to open the chest.
this system is easily expandable to fit even more chests if you want to and if i had to build it again i would make the corridors wider^^

edit: i knew i took a had a screenshot of it somewhere

You could use serial sorters. I attached a picture. Also, HERE is a link to download a tutorial world I made on using serial sorters and auto-crafting.

I didn't really tested it with frames (I prefer tubes there), but BC sorting using diamond pipes is trivial to setup, although costly (1/4th of a diamond per chest). Just remember not to add any other pipes between diamond one and chest and provide place for overflow (recyclers/cacti). You can set up to 9 items per chest, but you also have to route all of the items through them, so it could get messy. With filters you can get similar effect using tubes, but always remember to handle overflow (RP systems always have some buffer space, but it also can get messy). For really cheap sorting just use chests filled with at least one item in every space and just connect them to tubes/advanced insertions pipes.

Also currently BC is the only option for 1.3.2 and some of the other mods already updated (e.g. forestry or railcraft). I must admit, that playing without sensible redstone systems feels really weird, but it is time to check out what new forestry/RC/BC bring to the table. However I should polish my vanilla redstone skills, I used RP2 about a month after purchasing MC.

Quote from Zjarek

I didn't really tested it with frames (I prefer tubes there), but BC sorting using diamond pipes is trivial to setup, although costly (1/4th of a diamond per chest). Just remember not to add any other pipes between diamond one and chest and provide place for overflow (recyclers/cacti). You can set up to 9 items per chest, but you also have to route all of the items through them, so it could get messy. With filters you can get similar effect using tubes, but always remember to handle overflow (RP systems always have some buffer space, but it also can get messy). For really cheap sorting just use chests filled with at least one item in every space and just connect them to tubes/advanced insertions pipes.

diamond pipes are not a good option for this problem, since they need to expand into every direction to work at their best or you'll need a lot of them. logistic pipes on the other hand could make for a more simple and compact storage system than sorting machines, but again you would need one for every chest which is quite expensive.

Quote from SpwnX

Crystal chests + Filter sorting + Retrieving system + Magtubes for speed sorting/retrieving.
It is the best for me.

aren't retriever kinda redundant if you already use filter for sorting?

Quote from Gaxx

aren't retriever kinda redundant if you already use filter for sorting?

Retrievers retrieve a certain item from ALL connected inventories via tubes, while a filter only filters inputted items.

I have troubles providing recyclers with slabs in non-laggy way, using RP. Faarthest recyclers stand dry, while stacks wander around nearest recyclers to source. I will probably have to use bc instead for this particular task.

Quote from T10a

Retrievers retrieve a certain item from ALL connected inventories via tubes, while a filter only filters inputted items.

but the inventory is in most cases a relay, which inputs by itself

Quote from baturinsky

I have troubles providing recyclers with slabs in non-laggy way, using RP. Faarthest recyclers stand dry, while stacks wander around nearest recyclers to source. I will probably have to use bc instead for this particular task.

have you tried using the default mode of the sorter for this? it's made for distribution of the same item to different colours

Quote from GregoriusT

Please never forget to include Configfiles. This can be a problem for other people.

If you were posting this in reference to my post, I use Tekkit. Yes, i know. Hiss, evil, spawn of the devil. But there are your config files.

Quote from atimeforglory

If you were posting this in reference to my post, I use Tekkit. Yes, i know. Hiss, evil, spawn of the devil. But there are your config files.

I don't think most people here are going to download Tekkit for the purpose of viewing your creation, or realistically at all.

I like RP2 but it ugly and takes a while to set up properly and requires a lot of stuff on the side to work. The simplicity of logistic pipes I like. Also not a big fan of the ender pearl requirement in some/one(?) recipes for RP2. If it weren't for the ender pearls I'd probably make more RP2 sorting system because they can be fun to set up.

Quote from huldu

The simplicity of logistic pipes I like. Also not a big fan of the ender pearl requirement in some/one(?) recipes for RP2.

there's one recipe that requieres ender pearls: the retriever. while it's a quite important machine, i think it's not necessary for sorting in any way.