Quick answer: The standard Modular Frame recipe (3 Reinforced Iron Plate + 12 Iron Rod → 2/min) is the one to build around early, because its alternates trade in different bottlenecks rather than being free upgrades: Bolted Frame swaps Iron Rod for mass-produced Screws (via the Cast Screw alternate) at the same Reinforced Iron Plate ratio, while Steeled Frame is the most resource-efficient of the three but needs Steel Pipe first. This guide follows a real purpose-built factory that hits a clean 5 Modular Frames/min off just two iron nodes using Cast Screw to skip Iron Rod entirely for its screws.
- free costs nothing
- cheap small cost
- setup needs preparation
- grind pays off slowly
- skip the thing to stop doing
Modular Frame recipes at a glance
| Recipe | Inputs per minute | Output | Unlocked by | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modular Frame (standard) | 3 Reinforced Iron Plate + 12 Iron Rod | 2/min | Tier 2 - Part Assembly | Default — no Hard Drive needed |
| Bolted Frame (alternate) | 7.5 Reinforced Iron Plate + 140 Screws | 5/min | Hard Drive scan, Tier 2 | Same Iron Plate ratio, swaps Rods for bulk Screws |
| Steeled Frame (alternate) | 2 Reinforced Iron Plate + 10 Steel Pipe | 3/min | Hard Drive scan, Tier 3 | Most resource-efficient once Steel is running |
Per Modular Frame produced, Steeled Frame needs the least Reinforced Iron Plate (0.67 vs. 1.5 for the other two) and trades Iron Rod for Steel Pipe, which is why it's the natural upgrade once Steel production is online. Bolted Frame keeps the same 1.5 Reinforced-Iron-Plate-per-frame ratio as the standard recipe but needs 28 Screws per frame instead of 6 Iron Rods — worth it specifically because Screws scale cheaply off the Cast Screw alternate (12.5 Iron Ingot/min → 50 Screws/min, skipping Iron Rod production entirely) or Steel Screws later. That's exactly the trade this guide's factory makes, just applied to feeding the standard recipe's screw demand for Reinforced Iron Plate rather than switching the Modular Frame recipe itself.
Factory ratios: a 5 Modular Frame/min build off two iron nodes
| Stage | Machines | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mining | 2 Miners on normal iron nodes | — | 120 Iron Ore/min |
| Smelting | 4 Smelters | 120 Iron Ore/min | 120 Iron Ingots/min |
| Iron Rods | 2 Constructors | 30 Iron Ingots/min | 30 Iron Rods/min |
| Cast Screws (alt) | ~2 Constructors | 22.5 Iron Ingots/min | 90 Screws/min |
| Reinforced Iron Plate | 2 Assemblers | 67.5 Iron Ingots/min (via Iron Plate) + 90 Screws/min | 7.5 Reinforced Iron Plate/min |
| Modular Frame (standard) | 3 Assemblers | 7.5 Reinforced Iron Plate/min + 30 Iron Rods/min | 5 Modular Frames/min |
You'll want to plan this ratio before placing a single foundation — type your target output into a free production planner like satisfactorytools.com, pick the Cast Screw alternate, and it works out every raw-ore and machine count for you. Working it out by hand catches the same thing: a mismatch between your target output and your available ore before you've built the wrong number of machines.
Why a dedicated Modular Frame factory pays off
You'll hit a bottleneck fast if Modular Frame production has to compete for iron with everything else already running through your starter base — this guide follows a real purpose-built factory rather than bolting a couple of assemblers onto an existing line, which is where new players most often under-build the reinforced-plate and rod inputs.
Choosing a target output based on available ore
This build sits on three normal iron nodes (180 Iron Ore per minute total), but deliberately caps the factory at 5 Modular Frames per minute using only two of them, or 120 Iron Ore per minute -- leaving the third node spare rather than maxing out every available resource. Five per minute needs 120 Iron Ore per minute total when split between the Cast Screw alternate (routing ore to screws directly) and the standard Iron Rod chain, which is a deliberately achievable target for a Tier 3 player rather than the largest factory the node cluster could theoretically support.
Smelting: four Smelters, one clean number
Two iron nodes at 60 Iron Ore per minute each combine onto one Mark 2 belt carrying 120 Iron Ore per minute into four Smelters, each smelting 30 Iron Ore per minute into 30 Iron Ingots per minute (the standard 1:1 Smelter ratio -- confirmed on the current Satisfactory Wiki), for a shared pool of 120 Iron Ingots per minute to split across every downstream step.
Iron Rods: the easy third of the split
Iron Rods are the simplest leg of this build: two Constructors each take 15 Iron Ingots per minute and convert them 1:1 into 15 Iron Rods per minute (the standard Iron Rod recipe, wiki-confirmed), for 30 Iron Rods per minute total -- exactly what 5 Modular Frames per minute needs downstream. Pulling the full output straight off two of the four Smelters means the remaining two Smelters' 60 Iron Ingots per minute -- plus a chunk of a third -- are what feed the more complex half of the factory.
Splitting fractional ratios with splitter arrays
Hitting exactly 5 Modular Frames per minute needs 67.5 Iron Ingots per minute for the Iron Plate chain and 22.5 Iron Ingots per minute for the Cast Screw chain -- fractional numbers that don't come cleanly off a single Smelter. This guide's source video solves it with a splitter array: take a 60-per-minute line, split it into two 30s, split one 30 again into two 15s, then split one of those 15s once more into two 7.5s, and merge one 7.5 stream back into the other line to land on the exact fraction needed. It's fiddly to look at the first time, but it's a standard technique for any ratio a single split-in-half chain can't reach on its own, and it's necessary here specifically because underclocking (which would let you dial a Constructor to a fractional rate directly) isn't unlocked yet at this point in the game.
Overbuilding machines instead of underclocking
Without underclocking available yet, this build rounds up rather than running fractional machines: 1.8 Constructors' worth of Cast Screw production becomes 2 full Constructors, and 2.25 Constructors' worth of Iron Plate production becomes 3 full Constructors. Both are intentionally overbuilt rather than exactly matched to the ratio -- a completely normal early-game compromise, and one that resolves itself later once underclocking unlocks and a rebuild (or a blueprint swap) can tighten the ratio to exactly what's needed.
Assembling Reinforced Iron Plate and feeding two inputs into three assemblers
Reinforced Iron Plate uses the standard recipe of 6 Iron Plate + 12 Screw → 5 Reinforced Iron Plate per craft on an Assembler (confirmed on the current Satisfactory Wiki), which is why the Cast Screw alternate matters here: it produces those screws straight from Iron Ingots without ever building a Rod, saving a full production step compared to the standard Iron Rod-to-Screw chain. Two Assemblers running this recipe feed both the Reinforced Iron Plate and the Iron Rods on into three more Assemblers running the Modular Frame recipe -- deliberately run slightly under capacity (roughly 2.5 Assemblers' worth spread across three) to land on exactly 5 Modular Frames per minute rather than 6.
Routing multiple outputs into multiple inputs cleanly
Feeding two outputs (Screws and Iron Plates) into multiple machine inputs (two Reinforced Iron Plate Assemblers) without belts crossing is a routing problem more than a ratio one: this guide's source video uses conveyor lifts to carry a belt up and over the factory floor, splitting off inputs at height rather than trying to route everything at ground level. A Mark 2 lift is used for the Screw line specifically because it's carrying just under 100 per minute -- more than a Mark 1 belt's 60-per-minute cap can carry on its own.
The finished factory, ratio by ratio
Traced end to end: two iron nodes provide 120 Iron Ore per minute into four Smelters producing 120 Iron Ingots per minute; 30 of those Ingots become 30 Iron Rods per minute across two Constructors; the remaining 90 split into 67.5 Iron Ingots per minute for Iron Plate production and 22.5 Iron Ingots per minute for Cast Screw production; both of those chains feed two Assemblers making Reinforced Iron Plate; and the Reinforced Iron Plate plus the Iron Rods feed three Assemblers producing a combined 5 Modular Frames per minute. Every number in that chain traces back to the same 120 Iron Ore per minute this guide starts with -- nothing in the factory is guessed.
What Modular Frames unlock next
Modular Frames feed directly into unlocking Steel production and, later, the Blueprint Designer — which itself costs Modular Frames alongside Cable, Concrete and Steel Beam to unlock once Steel is running. They're also a direct Space Elevator shipment further into the game, on top of every milestone that consumes them along the way, so exactly how many you'll need in total keeps climbing well past this first factory's output. Once you're through Tier 6, the same Modular Frame output above is also the main input to Heavy Modular Frames — see that guide for the follow-up ratio.
FAQ
What is the best Modular Frame recipe? It depends on what you have unlocked. The standard recipe (3 Reinforced Iron Plate + 12 Iron Rod → 2/min) needs no Hard Drive. Bolted Frame swaps those Rods for 28 Screws per frame at the same Reinforced Iron Plate ratio — worth it once Screws are cheap via Cast Screw or Steel Screws. Steeled Frame is the most resource-efficient of the three (0.67 Reinforced Iron Plate per frame) but needs Steel Pipe, so it's the natural upgrade once Tier 3 steel is running.
How many Modular Frames per minute can two iron nodes support? This guide's factory hits 5/min off two normal iron nodes (120 Iron Ore/min total), using the Cast Screw alternate to cover Reinforced Iron Plate's screw demand without building Iron Rods for it. A third available node is left unused deliberately, as a realistic Tier 3 target rather than the cluster's theoretical maximum.
Do I need underclocking to hit exact ratios? No — before underclocking unlocks, splitter arrays (splitting a belt down to halves, quarters and eighths) can land on most fractional ratios, and overbuilding by rounding machine counts up works for the rest. Both are normal early-game workarounds that a later rebuild can tighten once underclocking is available.
Sources
The standard Modular Frame recipe (3 Reinforced Iron Plate + 12 Iron Rod, 2/min), Bolted Frame (7.5 Reinforced Iron Plate + 140 Screws, 5/min), Steeled Frame (2 Reinforced Iron Plate + 10 Steel Pipe, 3/min), the standard Reinforced Iron Plate recipe (6 Iron Plate + 12 Screw, 5/min), the standard Iron Ingot recipe (1:1, 30/min per Smelter), the standard Iron Rod recipe (1:1, 15/min per Constructor) and the Cast Screw alternate (12.5 Iron Ingot in for 50 Screw out per minute) are all confirmed directly against the current Satisfactory Wiki's Modular Frame and Screws pages. The guide's own fractional math — 67.5 Iron Ingots/min for Iron Plates and 22.5 for Cast Screws to hit exactly 5 Modular Frames/min — checks out exactly against those confirmed per-machine rates. The splitter-array technique, the overbuilding-instead-of-underclocking workaround, the conveyor-lift routing and the specific machine counts come from the source build video's own on-screen factory.
Read next
- Satisfactory Best Alternate Recipes Guide — every alternate worth unlocking
- Satisfactory Heavy Modular Frames Production Guide — the next tier up
- Satisfactory Space Elevator Phase 1 Guide — where this output goes
- Satisfactory Steel Production Guide — unlocks the Steeled Frame alternate
Frequently asked
What's the standard Modular Frame recipe in Satisfactory?
3 Reinforced Iron Plate and 12 Iron Rod produce 2 Modular Frame per craft on an Assembler (60 seconds), scaling to 2 Modular Frames per minute at full clock.
Why use the Cast Screw alternate recipe for Modular Frames?
Cast Screw produces Screws directly from Iron Ingots (12.5 Iron Ingot in for 50 Screw out per minute), skipping the Iron Rod step entirely. That saves a full production stage compared to the standard Iron Rod-to-Screw chain feeding Reinforced Iron Plate.
How much Iron Ore do I need for 5 Modular Frames per minute?
120 Iron Ore per minute, split into four Smelters producing 120 Iron Ingots per minute total -- 30 go to Iron Rods, 67.5 to Iron Plates, and 22.5 to Cast Screws, which together feed the Reinforced Iron Plate and Modular Frame assemblers.
How do I split a belt into a fractional amount like 7.5 per minute?
Use a splitter array: split a 30-per-minute belt into two 15s, split one 15 again into two 7.5s, then merge one of those 7.5 streams into another line to land on the exact fraction you need. It's the standard workaround before underclocking is unlocked.
What's the difference between this guide and a Heavy Modular Frame guide?
Modular Frame is a Tier 3 part needed to unlock Steel and the Blueprint Designer. Heavy Modular Frame is a separate, later-game Tier 5 part with its own four-input recipe (Modular Frame, Steel Pipe, Encased Industrial Beam and Screws) and a Space Elevator shipment requirement -- covered in its own dedicated guide.
What is the best Modular Frame recipe?
It depends on what you have unlocked. The standard recipe (3 Reinforced Iron Plate + 12 Iron Rod → 2/min) needs no Hard Drive. Bolted Frame swaps those Rods for 28 Screws per frame at the same Reinforced Iron Plate ratio — worth it once Screws are cheap via Cast Screw or Steel Screws. Steeled Frame is the most resource-efficient of the three (0.67 Reinforced Iron Plate per frame) but needs Steel Pipe, so it's the natural upgrade once Tier 3 steel is running.
How many Modular Frames per minute can two iron nodes support?
This guide's factory hits 5/min off two normal iron nodes (120 Iron Ore/min total), using the Cast Screw alternate to cover Reinforced Iron Plate's screw demand without building Iron Rods for it. A third available node is left unused deliberately, as a realistic Tier 3 target rather than the cluster's theoretical maximum.