Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-188.179.113.218-20130520180915/@comment-101.162.216.50-20130525152032

I think he was asking why it is more effecient to make one of these machines than say dig up the resources yourself, which it's not. The point of it is to convert sludge leftover from some machines such as the harvester or from the randomly spawned pools, and use it as a useful converting tool instead of having to deal with excess sludge.

Also since it has the highest chance of converting into clay, this can be seen as another way of gathering clay other than trudging through swamps with a spade or looking on riverbeds. And yes either a chest directly adjacent or a transport pipe output will collect the materials, wooden transport pipes aren't needed so stone should be fine unless you want to seperate the individual materials. And rather than using buckets for the sludge consider piping it in with waterproof tubes, it'll save you a lot of bother in the long run ^^.