Productive Metalworks in FTB Skies 2

Productive Metalworks is the metalworking mod in this pack. It adds a foundry-style setup built from items like the Black Foundry Controller, Black Foundry Tank and Liquid Heating Coil, plus casting gear such as the Casting Table and Casting Basin. The pack ships version 1.21.1-1.15.1.^[1][2]

Where it fits in the progression

The mod has its own quest line in the gearing_up chapter, and it starts with a single quest. In "Productive Metalworks Foundry" quest you get Fire Clay and Fire Brick. Three quests unlock after that one, so you can take them in whatever order suits you.^[2]

• "Main Foundry Components" quest asks for the Black Foundry Controller, the Black Foundry Tank and the Liquid Heating Coil.^[2]
• "Foundry Outer Structure" quest asks for Black Fire Bricks.^[2]
• "Foundry Drains" quest asks for the Black Foundry Drain, the Casting Table, the Foundry Tap and the Casting Basin.^[2]

Once the drain, table, tap and basin quest is done, "Ingot Cast" quest unlocks and asks you to get an Ingot Cast.^[2]

Unverified The mod's in-game guide has intro and gear pages, but the text of those pages was not available when this section was written. Exactly how the foundry multiblock works, which materials it handles and how it connects to other mods is therefore unverified here.

Productive Metalworks is all about the Foundry, a multiblock that melts items into fluid so you can cast them. In this pack, the gearing_up quest chapter gives you a clear order to follow, so here are the first steps in that order.^[2][3]

Fire Clay and Fire Brick

Fire Brick goes into most of the Foundry parts you'll make first, so start there. The first quest, "Productive Metalworks Foundry" quest, asks for Fire Clay and Fire Brick, and the next quests in the chapter come after it.^[2][4]

4× Fire ClayMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Clay Ball	any sand	Clay Ball
any sand	Clay Ball	any sand
Clay Ball	any sand	Clay Ball

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/fire_clay

Fire BrickMod recipe

Smelting

• Fire Clay

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:smelting/fire_brick

A blasting recipe also turns Fire Clay into Fire Brick.

The Foundry core

Next, "Main Foundry Components" quest wants a Black Foundry Controller, a Black Foundry Tank and a Liquid Heating Coil. These are the heart of the Foundry.^[2]

Black Foundry ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Blast Furnace	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_controller

Black Foundry TankMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	any colorless glass blocks	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_tank

Liquid Heating CoilMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any copper ingot	any copper ingot	any copper ingot
any copper ingot	any empty bucket	any copper ingot
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/liquid_heating_coil

The mod's own in-game tutorial gives the build rules. The minimum size is 3x3x2, with at least one air block inside and optional corners. The bottom must be made of heating coils. You also need a controller, a tank and at least one drain.^[3]

Drain, tap and casting blocks

"Foundry Drains" quest covers getting the molten metal back out. You need a Black Foundry Drain, a Foundry Tap, a Casting Table and a Casting Basin.^[2]

Black Foundry DrainMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

8 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_drain

Foundry TapMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Empty slot	Fire Brick
Empty slot	Fire Brick	Empty slot

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/foundry_tap

Casting BasinMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

7 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/casting_basin

Casting TableMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

7 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/casting_table

Right-click a Foundry Tap attached to a drain to extract the fluid. A Casting Basin slowly cools the fluid into a block, and you right-click the basin to take the result. A Casting Table turns fluids into casts instead.^[3]

Your first Ingot Cast

Once the casting blocks are done, "Ingot Cast" quest asks for an Ingot Cast. It's made by casting, and the recipe below uses molten steel.^[2][4]

Ingot CastMod recipe

Item Casting (productivemetalworks)

• any ingot
• 360× any molten steel

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:casting/cast/ingot

Black Fire Bricks and colours

"Foundry Outer Structure" quest asks for Black Fire Bricks, which you can craft straight from a Fire Brick.^[2][4]

4× Black Fire BricksMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

4 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_fire_bricks

The pack also adds its own stonecutting recipe for Black Fire Bricks. It uses fire clay bricks from another mod, so it's a handy shortcut if you already have those.^[4]

Black Fire BricksAdded by the pack

Stonecutting

• Fire Clay Bricks

Recipe id: minecraft:kjs/productivemetalworks_black_fire_bricks

Added by the pack, not part of the mod's own recipes.

The other colours, like Blue Fire Bricks, come from dye recipes. For example, the Blue Foundry Controller is a dye recolour of a controller, so you don't need to craft a new one from scratch.^[4]

Productive Metalworks is built around one multiblock: the Foundry. You build it, fuel it, melt items into fluid, and then cast that fluid into blocks or other items. This section walks through that whole loop.^[3]

Building the Foundry

The smallest Foundry is 3x3x2, because it needs at least one air block inside the structure. Corners are optional. The bottom has to be made of Heating Coils. On top of that you need a Foundry Controller such as the Black Foundry Controller, a Foundry Tank such as the Black Foundry Tank, and at least one Foundry Drain such as the Black Foundry Drain. These parts come in several dye colors, and the Black versions are the ones shown below.^[3][4]

Black Foundry ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Blast Furnace	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_controller

The Black Foundry Controller has its own shaped crafting recipe in this pack.

Black Foundry TankMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	any colorless glass blocks	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_tank

The Black Foundry Tank is a shaped crafting recipe in this pack.

Black Foundry DrainMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

8 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_drain

The Black Foundry Drain is a shaped crafting recipe in this pack.

If you want a different color, there are dye recolor recipes for the controller, tank, drain, window, capacitor and fire bricks. The recipes I can see cover Black, Blue and Brown.^[4]

Size limits in this pack

This pack changes the maximum internal volume of the Foundry to 200, down from the mod default of 1,024. The other size limits match the mod: a maximum circumference of 200 and a maximum height of 20.^[5]

• foundryMaxVolume: 200 in this pack (mod default 1,024).^[5]
• foundryMaxCircumference: 200, same as the mod default.^[5]
• foundryMaxHeight: 20, same as the mod default.^[5]

Fueling and power

The Foundry needs fuel inside a Foundry Tank to work. You can right-click a bucket into the tank or supply fuel via a pipe. Fluid capacity is 1,000 mb per block of internal volume, the same as the mod default. Tanks also try to share fluid with tanks below them every 21 ticks in this pack.^[3][5]

If you would rather use energy than liquid fuel, replace the Fluid Heating Coils with Powered Heating Coils. High Powered Heating Coils create even more heat. With powered coils you must replace the Foundry Tank with a Foundry Capacitor, such as the Black Foundry Capacitor, and then supply energy through a cable attached to the capacitor.^[3][4]

• foundryFluidCapacityPerBlockVolume: 1,000 mb per block volume.^[5]
• foundryTankTickRate: 21 ticks between attempts at sharing fluid with tanks below.^[5]

Smelting and alloying

You can add items through the controller GUI or just drop them into the Foundry. After some time they turn into liquid. If you add a second liquid, some combinations undergo an alloying reaction. For example, 2/3 Iron and 1/3 Nickel turn into Invar. You can also add fluids by hand by right-clicking a drain with a bucket.^[3]

The controller takes upgrades. A stability upgrade disables fluid alloying, which is handy when you want to keep your metals separate. Time upgrades speed up melting and alloying, and you can install several of them. The second kind of time upgrade is described as twice as good as the other one.^[3]

• foundryCollectItems: an active Foundry collects items dropped inside it (on).^[5]
• foundryDamageEntities: an active Foundry damages entities inside it (on).^[5]
• foundryRenderInventory: an active Foundry renders its inventory inside the multiblock (on).^[5]

Casting

To get the metal out, right-click a Foundry Tap attached to a drain. To turn the fluid into blocks, use a Casting Basin. The basin slowly cools the fluid and turns it into a block. Right-click the basin to take the result out, or use a pipe or a hopper.^[3]

A Casting Table turns fluids into different casts. You add a cast by right-clicking with the item in hand. You can also create new items by pouring liquids over items placed in the Casting Table or Basin.^[3]

The cooling time of cast items is the number of mb used in the recipe divided by the cooling modifier. This pack keeps the mod default of 4.^[5]

In this pack, Productive Metalworks progression is a short quest chain in the gearing_up chapter. It takes you from Fire Clay to your first Ingot Cast. Follow it in order and you end up with a foundry setup and casting gear.^[2]

Step 1: Fire Clay and Fire Brick

Everything starts with "Productive Metalworks Foundry" quest, which asks you to obtain Fire Clay and Fire Brick. Every other quest in the chapter comes after this one.^[2]

4× Fire ClayMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Clay Ball	any sand	Clay Ball
any sand	Clay Ball	any sand
Clay Ball	any sand	Clay Ball

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/fire_clay

You turn Fire Clay into Fire Brick in a furnace or a blast furnace, since there is both a smelting and a blasting recipe.^[4]

Fire BrickMod recipe

Smelting

• Fire Clay

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:smelting/fire_brick

Fire BrickMod recipe

Blasting

• Fire Clay

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:blasting/fire_brick

Step 2: Three branches

After the Fire Clay quest, the chain splits into three quests that each unlock from it. They cover the foundry core, the black fire bricks and the casting equipment.^[2]

• "Main Foundry Components" quest is the foundry core. It asks for a Black Foundry Controller, a Black Foundry Tank and a Liquid Heating Coil.^[2]
• "Foundry Outer Structure" quest asks for Black Fire Bricks.^[2]
• "Foundry Drains" quest is the casting equipment. It asks for a Black Foundry Drain, a Casting Table, a Foundry Tap and a Casting Basin.^[2]

The foundry core

Black Foundry ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Blast Furnace	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_controller

Black Foundry TankMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	any colorless glass blocks	Fire Brick
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_tank

Liquid Heating CoilMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any copper ingot	any copper ingot	any copper ingot
any copper ingot	any empty bucket	any copper ingot
Fire Brick	Fire Brick	Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/liquid_heating_coil

Black Fire Bricks

This pack gives you two ways to get Black Fire Bricks. The mod's own crafting recipe is first below. The pack also adds a stonecutting recipe that converts Fire Clay Bricks from Modern Industrialization into Black Fire Bricks.^[4]

4× Black Fire BricksMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

4 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_fire_bricks

Black Fire BricksAdded by the pack

Stonecutting

• Fire Clay Bricks

Recipe id: minecraft:kjs/productivemetalworks_black_fire_bricks

Added by the pack, not part of the mod's own recipes.

Casting equipment

Black Foundry DrainMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

8 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_drain

Casting TableMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

7 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/casting_table

Foundry TapMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fire Brick	Empty slot	Fire Brick
Empty slot	Fire Brick	Empty slot

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/foundry_tap

Casting BasinMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

7 × Fire Brick

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/casting_basin

Step 3: The Ingot Cast

The last quest in the chain, "Ingot Cast" quest, comes after the casting equipment quest and asks you to make an Ingot Cast. It is made by item casting rather than normal crafting, and both recipes for it call for molten steel. So you need a source of molten steel before you can finish this quest.^[2][4]

Ingot CastMod recipe

Item Casting (productivemetalworks)

• any ingot
• 360× any molten steel

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:casting/cast/ingot

Ingot CastMod recipe

Item Casting (productivemetalworks)

• Brick
• 360× any molten steel

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:casting/cast/ingot_brick

Recoloring your foundry

The quests ask for the black variants, but fire bricks, controllers, tanks, drains, windows and capacitors all have dye recipes for other colors. For example, the black controller can be made from any foundry controller plus black dye.^[2][4]

Black Foundry ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• any foundry controller
• any black dye

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:crafting/black_foundry_controller_from_dye

Productive Metalworks connects to the rest of the pack mostly through recipes. Most of them are casting, melting or alloying recipes that the pack added or changed, so molten metal from your foundry feeds items from many other mods. The quests don't cross over: the gearing_up quests only ask for Productive Metalworks items such as Fire Clay, Casting Table and Ingot Cast.^[2][4]

FTB Materials metals

This is the biggest link. The pack has casting recipes that turn molten metal into FTB Materials ingots, nuggets and gears, for example Steel Ingot, Bronze Nugget and Invar Gear. Ingots use the Ingot Cast, nuggets use the Nugget Cast and gears use the Gear Cast.^[4]

Steel IngotChanged by the pack

Item Casting (productivemetalworks)

• Ingot Cast
• 90× any molten steel

Recipe id: productivemetalworks:casting/ingots/ftbmaterials/steel

The pack changed this recipe, and many other FTB Materials ingots are cast the same way.

Diamond GearAdded by the pack

Item Casting (productivemetalworks)

• Gear Cast
• 400× any molten diamond

Recipe id: ftb:productivemetalworks/item_casting/gear/diamond

The pack added this recipe for Diamond Gear.

Other metal mods

• Mekanism: the pack casts Refined Obsidian Ingot from Molten Refined Obsidian and Refined Glowstone Ingot from Molten Refined Glowstone. The Refined Obsidian Nugget is cast too.^[4]
• Immersive Engineering: Uranium Ingot and Uranium Nugget can be cast from molten uranium.^[4]
• Silent Gear: the pack casts ingots such as Crimson Steel Ingot, Azure Silver Ingot and Blaze Gold Ingot. It also casts Uru Metal Ingot.^[4]

Oritech

Oritech has a whole set of recipes tied to the foundry. Small dusts of copper, gold, iron, nickel and platinum, like Small Iron Dust, can be melted into the matching molten metal. Alloying recipes then make Oritech's molten metals, such as Molten Adamant from Molten Diamond and Molten Nickel. You can cast those into Adamant Ingot, Biosteel Ingot, Duratium Ingot and Energite Ingot, and cast Molten Fluxite into Fluxite. All of these recipes are marked as changed by the pack.^[4]

Molten DuratiumChanged by the pack

Fluid Alloying (productivemetalworks)

• Molten Netherite
• Molten Platinum

Recipe id: oritech:compat/productivemetalworks/alloying/duratium

Duratium is alloyed from molten netherite and molten platinum, then cast into an ingot.

Casting Oritech's Biofuel with the Gem Cast gives you Mekanism's Bio Fuel.^[4]

Odds and ends

• Create: the pack casts Chocolate into a Bar of Chocolate. A Create mixing recipe added by the pack also uses Molten Uranium, Time Fluid Source and a Clock to make Helium.^[4]
• Applied Energistics 2 and Advanced AE: an Advanced AE reaction recipe added by the pack combines Ender Dust, Fluix Dust and Molten Blaze into Flux Dust.^[4]
• Integrated Dynamics: the pack casts Crystallized Chorus Chunk from Liquid Chorus, and Crystallized Menril Chunk from Menril Resin.^[4]
• Modern Industrialization: stonecutting recipes let you swap Black Fire Bricks and Fire Clay Bricks in either direction.^[4]

Productive Metalworks appears in one quest chapter in this pack: "gearing_up". None of its quests have titles, so you will know them by their IDs and by the items they ask you to hand in. They all branch out from one starting quest.^[2]

The starting quest

Everything begins with "Productive Metalworks Foundry" quest. It asks you to obtain Fire Clay and Fire Brick. Several other quests in the chapter unlock after this one, so get it done first.^[2]

Quests that unlock after it

• "Foundry Outer Structure" quest asks for Black Fire Bricks.^[2]
• "Main Foundry Components" quest asks for the Black Foundry Controller, the Black Foundry Tank and the Liquid Heating Coil.^[2]
• "Foundry Drains" quest asks for the Black Foundry Drain, the Casting Table, the Foundry Tap and the Casting Basin.^[2]

These quests each depend only on the starting quest, so you can do them in any order you like.^[2]

The final quest

"Ingot Cast" quest comes last. It unlocks after "Foundry Drains" quest and asks for an Ingot Cast.^[2]

Productive Metalworks keeps its foundry settings in one file, config/productivemetalworks-common.toml. Exactly one value in it is marked as changed from the mod default by this pack, and it's the one you'll notice most when building a foundry.^[5]

The value this pack changed

foundryMaxVolume is set to 200 in this pack, while the mod default is 1024. This caps the internal volume of the foundry multiblock, so your foundry can be much smaller than the mod normally allows. Plan your build around that limit.^[5]

Size and capacity limits

These are the same as the mod defaults, so only the volume cap differs from a standard install.^[5]

• foundryMaxCircumference is 200, the same as the mod default. It is the max circumference of the foundry multiblock.^[5]
• foundryMaxHeight is 20, the same as the mod default. It is the max height of the foundry multiblock.^[5]
• foundryFluidCapacityPerBlockVolume is 1,000 mb per block volume, the same as the mod default.^[5]

Casting and fluid behavior

• foundryCoolingModifier is 4, the same as the mod default. The cooling time of a cast item is the number of mb used in the recipe divided by this number.^[5]
• foundryTankTickRate is 21, the same as the mod default. It sets how many ticks pass between attempts at sharing fluid with tanks below the foundry.^[5]

Foundry toggles

The on/off options are all set to true in this pack. An active foundry collects items dropped inside it (foundryCollectItems), damages entities inside it (foundryDamageEntities) and renders its inventory inside the multiblock (foundryRenderInventory).^[5]