Mechanical Press

A stamping press: a few very heavy strokes instead of many light hammer blows. It makes the same things a hammer does (plate, foil, scrap, bullets), but it runs straight off a shaft without a linkage.

Crafting

I I I
I B I
  S

I is an Iron Ingot, B is a Bearing and S is a Shaft.

Using it

It sits directly on a shaft line; connect it from any side. It presses once per turn's worth of rotation, so faster shafts press more often.

• Right-click with an item to put a workpiece in (or swap it).
• Right-click with an empty hand to take it out.
• Right-click with a Machine Head to seat it (the old one comes back); sneak and right-click with an empty hand to pull it. With no head the press does nothing and says so.

Things to know

• Every stroke is the seated head's full ceiling (24 St for an iron head of four ingots), enough for steel (2 Fu a stroke) without any gearing. That also means it overshoots soft metals easily: 24 Fu a stroke on copper goes from ingot to foil in one.
• It doesn't stop when the plate is done. Plates become foil, foil becomes scrap. See Metalworking.
• Steel still has to be hot.
• A stroke that achieves nothing (metal too cold, scrap already) wears the head (not the press); replace a spent head to reset it.
• It's a 90 Su load, one of the heaviest you can put on a shaft network.

Press or hammer?

The hammer is cheap, gentle and adjustable, but needs a linkage and attention. The press is expensive and blunt, but simple to drive. Pick the press when you want force without building a gear train; pick the hammer when you need a light touch.