Crucibles

The Crucible is a block added by Ex Nihilo. It is used to dissolve solids into liquids (namely producing Lava and Water). It requires a heat source to be placed below it.

The Crucible is first crafted as an Unfired Crucible, which must then be cooked in a Furnace.

To use the Crucible, place it above any heat source (e.g., Lava, Fire, a lit Furnace, or even a Torch). Right-click with an eligible block to place that block into the Crucible, then wait for it to melt. Different heat sources will melt blocks at different speeds (see tables below). The most efficient heat source by far is placing a crucible over burning Netherrack. However, if Thermal Expansion is installed, Liquid Pyrotheum can be used as an even more powerful heat source.

The Crucible works well with mass-smelting operations as furnaces can also accept Lava as fuel, and also works well for mods that use Coal-driven machines without having the need to constantly resupply from underground sources. Liquids can be drained with Fluid Pipes or Fluiducts which can then be used for any number of purposes. Their relatively cheap production cost makes them an excellent source of lava at any stage of production, and using large numbers of crucibles and cobblestone generators is a viable method of lava production for use with Magmatic Dynamo or other energy producers that use Lava as fuel.

Lava Production Values by Heat Source
Flowing Lava is Lava which is in a state to "flow" into other spaces around itself. Once it is no longer producing other Lava around itself, it becomes Still Lava (no matter what height or slope it has, or whether it has a flowing texture). In other words, a single Lava source block can "power" multiple Crucibles at full strength (0.2 mB/tick)—they will be at half-strength while the Lava is spreading out, but will increase to full strength once the Lava has stabilized. When Still Lava receives a block update it will turn into Flowing Lava to check if it needs to produce other Lava around itself, but will return to being Still Lava eventually (so if the Crucible is placed above Still Lava, it may briefly show a melting speed of 0.1 mB/tick but will soon increase to 0.2 mb/tick).