Measure drum throughput and predict when a hopper will fill

Count processed potatoes while a hopper is being topped up

Start with one drum you can see. Record its raw inventory, time a short interval, and count only potatoes that actually enter during that interval. Take the ending inventory on the same drum. Processing equals starting inventory plus accepted input minus ending inventory. In an example, 40 in the hopper, 30 accepted, and 20 left means 50 processed. If three minutes elapsed, that is about 16.7 per minute. The example uses invented test numbers so you can substitute your own. If you cannot count incoming potatoes, temporarily stop hand-feeding and measure a draining hopper instead.

Steam discussion: Machines can't handle the potato income after all upgrades. ↗

Steam discussion: [BUG] Bucket dumping in Crank Peel Machine ↗

Estimate time until the next load runs out of space

Read the hopper’s actual capacity and current fill. In a sample that starts at 50 and ends at 80 out of 128 after three minutes, stored raw stock has grown by 10 per minute. Space remaining is 48, giving about 4.8 minutes if delivery and processing continue at that pace. A non-growing inventory has no predicted fill time under this test. Measure another interval when a cableway changes the arrival pattern. A single arriving sack can fill the free space before the average predicts it.

Steam discussion: Machines can't handle the potato income after all upgrades. ↗

Watch one drum drain before walking back to the outdoor pile

Pause new hand deliveries and note buffered potatoes. Time the decrease while the drum is running. A drop from 80 to 50 in two minutes is a rate of 15 per minute, leaving about three minutes and twenty seconds from that final reading. Compare it with a timed round trip to the pile. If the trip takes longer, stage a load near the machine or use the indoor gantry before leaving. The estimate no longer describes an unattended drain if a hanging sack feeds that drum while you are away.

Player moving bagged stock into the depot ↗

Separate a released bucket from a load the machine accepted

A player reports picking up several missed potatoes after each sack. Counting a nominal load as if every item entered the hopper inflates the calculated output by exactly the number that missed. For one controlled drop, clear the floor first, note how many you carried and count identifiable spill pieces after delivery. If you cannot tell whether some rolled into a different hopper or the water, discard that sample. A zero-input drain test gives a rate without estimating the spill.

Steam discussion: [BUG] Bucket dumping in Crank Peel Machine ↗

Steam discussion: potatoes flying by the machine. ↗

Bucket held over the hopper with its lip partly obscured ↗

Add both receivers when the gantry changes its destination

Choose either one drum with separately tracked feeds or the same fixed group of drums for the entire observation. With two installed units, record both counts and capacities at both ends of the clock. Add all accepted loads to the pair only once. A sack initially headed toward the first drum may land at the emptier second one. Using both counts captures that redirected load. If another machine is installed midway, start a fresh interval with the new group.

Diagnose an impossible negative processing result

If the end count is larger than starting stock plus known deliveries, a working drum cannot explain the difference. Look up for a gantry sack, check whether the other hopper was accidentally included, and check that both readings came from the same save. Example: an initial 6 and one known delivery of 20 cannot yield a final 45 in that receiver without another input or a reading error. Repeat with an empty overhead pickup strip and one visible receiver. A negative result is a measurement error, so it should not justify another peeler purchase.

Separate a bag backlog from a stopped drum

In this photographed shift, whole sacks fill the middle lane while the three hoppers contain raw stock and peeled potatoes sit on the outer channels. Watch one hopper count fall and one finished piece move before declaring a power fault. If either line is still producing, stop bringing sacks for a cycle and clear a walking lane. Restart feeding only the receiver with space.

Related field notes

• Measure a Potato Shift Without Losing Track of Stock or Cash
• Why a full sack will not empty into the peeling machine
• Peeled potatoes piling up at the water-channel bend
• When will my quota finish? Measure your depot’s actual pace