Not bad! What power source are you using to run the recyclers? As far as I can tell from the screenshots this seems to be underground, so it's probably not solar or wind power. Does it use overclocking?
I'm also curious how fast the transport is through the RP2 tubes. I have been using BC pipes and redpower engines to move items in my own factory and it took some tinkering to make the system just barely fast enough to keep up with the BC engines.
Hmmm, I'm still not hugely experienced with a lot of RedPower machinery, but would it be possible to move a miner with a Frame Motor without any complications?
This is assuming OP is even willing to use RP2 though.
Second version is pretty slick! Are you overclocking any of the recyclers? You could theoretically up the speed of the whole system by overclocking the recyclers and then adding even more cobble generators.
Oh man, I can just imagine it now. A 500 meter long airship, armed to the teeth with deployers containing mining lasers and dynamite. It could use a Frames-based inchworm drive to move itself, have fighter bays to launch Zeppelin-mod enabled fightercraft, and even be self sufficient to feed and maintain its staff with internal farms and solar power.
I now know what I need to build after all my surface facilities are done!
It may be expensive, but so far all of my buildings have been MOSTLY self-sufficient using solar energy. My cobblestone processing plant has multiple overclocked macerators and electric furnaces, but I put an array of 25 solar panels on the roof and that has still been more than enough to maintain its power. Even with all 5 production lines running constantly, the facility can self sustain for ABOUT 10 Minecraft days, assuming you start with a full MFSU. Note this is very rough, I didn't use a timer, I just counted Minecraft days. Granted, this takes TONS of copper wiring to make, but it's definitely been more than I needed for that plant.
I'm working on an automated cactus factory right now, one that produces dye and buildcraft waterproofing, and it will use much less power even when both production lines are active. I expect to use even less solar power for it.
Of course, my next project after this is going to be a huge recycling plant to turn all the excess cobble and cactus into scrap, and a huge array of mass fabs. That will probably require more than just solar power could provide. For that, I may either set up an ice-cooled CASUC reactor, or go the super manly method and build a giant lava tank warehouse and start draining volcanoes to power a huge array of geothermals. There's something magical about the loud hum of 50 geothermal plants taming mother nature's lava fury into raw power!
And of course, for the awesome factor, I may build an underground nuclear plant for backup power, and hook it up to all the completed facilities for emergency power at the flick of a switch. I certainly have enough Uranium saved up for it now, over a whole stack! But since I also have about 3,000 buckets' worth of lava also stored in my home base's basement, that's something for waay down the line.
I worked on a fairly big cobblestone production factory for awhile, and I did consider using induction furnaces. It took a lot of tinkering but I discovered that it does depend on what methods you're using to move your items around.
Are you using Buildcraft Redstone Engines? Because if so, the heat level of the engine matters. An electric engine struggles to keep up with the item flow from a redstone engine even at blue heat levels if you try it without any overclockers. However, only minimal overclocking is necessary to bring it up to speed. My setup uses 2 overclockers in each electric engine, which is enough to keep up with the engine at blue level. I also usually implement a Redpower 2 circuitry system that cycles power between two redstone engines attached to chests (both filled with the same stuff) so that only one is ever running at the same time. This means there's always at least one engine running, and the engines have ample time to cool and stay at blue heat.
Of course, this is only good for a low EU using slow style factory. With only 2 overclockers per electric furnace, and only keeping redstone engines at blue, your system is going to run fairly slow. If you're going for something like a steam engine which moves whole stacks of materials at once then you're going to require an induction furnace most likely, and maybe even multiple ones. But that would run bleedingly fast, for sure!
