Cannon shell — Factorio Production Calculator
Cannon shell is crafted in the assembling machine in 8 seconds, producing 1 per craft from 2 × Steel plate, 2 × Plastic bar, 1 × Explosives. At 60 per minute you need 16 assembling machines, and the chain behind it draws on 4 raw resources: petroleum gas, water, iron ore, coal.
Production chain for 60 Cannon shell / minute
| Item | Per minute | Machines | Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron plate | 600 | 32 | Furnace |
| Steel plate | 120 | 32 | Furnace |
| Plastic bar | 120 | 1 | Chemical plant |
| Cannon shell | 60 | 16 | Assembling machine |
| Explosives | 60 | 2 | Chemical plant |
| Sulfur | 30 | 0.25 | Chemical plant |
Raw materials
| Resource | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Petroleum gas | 1,650 |
| Water | 750 |
| Iron ore | 600 |
| Coal | 90 |
Machine counts are not rounded up. Add a little headroom in game — belt throughput and inserter speed usually mean you want 5-10% more than the exact number.
Cannon shell recipe
| Machine | Crafting time | Output | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembling machine | 8 s | 1 | Steel plate × 2, Plastic bar × 2, Explosives × 1 |
What the whole chain needs
60 cannon shells per minute pulls in 5 intermediate products, and the whole tree comes to 83 machines across 3 machine types, fed by 4 raw resources. The table above already sums demand across every branch — if copper cable is used by two recipes, you see the total, not one of them.
Belt check: the busiest input here moves 1,650 per minute, which is 1.83 of a yellow belt's 900 per minute. Above 1.0 and you need a second belt (or a faster tier) before the machines themselves become the limit.
What uses cannon shell
1 base-game recipe consumes cannon shell, sorted by how much each one takes:
- Uranium cannon shell — 1 per craft
What cannon shell is made from
- Steel plate — 2 per craft
- Plastic bar — 2 per craft
- Explosives — 1 per craft
FAQ
How many assembling machines do I need for 60 cannon shells per minute?
16 assembling machines. One at standard speed produces 3.8 per minute, so 60 ÷ that number is the count. The calculator above rounds nothing — add 5-10% headroom for belt and inserter losses in a real factory.
How much raw ore does cannon shell take?
At 60/min the chain consumes 1,650 petroleum gas per minute, 750 water per minute, 600 iron ore per minute and 1 more. Those numbers are the theoretical minimum — mining productivity research and productivity modules both reduce them.
Is cannon shell needed for science packs?
Not directly. It feeds Uranium cannon shell, and those in turn feed the science packs. Open the science pack page to see the demand that lands on this recipe.
Machine counts assume bare machines at standard speed. Recipe data comes from the game's own prototypes (PlayerCalc, Factorio 2.0 base game). Not affiliated with Wube Software.