When I pickup my spidertron (Machine Gun Spidertron), he is converted back to the Rocket Launch Spidertron. I need to switch the weapons again to restore my prefered weapon!

Thanks.

This is intended, so that there’s only one spidertron item and it doesn’t clutter up recipes, logistic requests, etc. There’s a setting to change it though, if you prefer separate items/recipes for each weapon.

I know this settings and I prefer having only one recipe! But I also would like to retain my Spidertron type when I mined it!
I was able to change the mod to do that:

https://textdoc.co/693s7OwWQUlqYfxz

This worked on my save, but I don't tested in other scenarios. If you like, you can use it!

Thanks.

Hmm I see. The problem with having lots of different types of items floating around is that now things like filter slots, logistic requests, autotrash, pipette, Factory Search, etc don't always work correctly between different item types. That is why they currently all return the same item type.

I'll consider another option to make this configurable, but I'm not a big fan of having lots of options, and it won't be high priority (especially since you've changed your own version anyway).

I found this related conversation from 2 years ago :) https://mods.factorio.com/mod/SpidertronWeaponSwitcher/discussion/5f6d309a5290358e655f496c

I had forgotten about that conversation. Sorry!
Testing a little more here with my modifications, I checked that the alternate recipes are hidden on the player crafting menu, on machines, on logistics requests. I only see it cluttering on the Factory Search!
Then I added this line:

item.flags = create_alternate_items and {} or { "hidden" }

And appears to solve the problem.
Currently, I prefer this behavior (could mine my custom spidertron and build it again, without loosing the configuration!)

Thanks.

Well yes if you make it hidden then it won't appear in things like logistics requests. But now you can't request that item right?

Yes. I hadn't thought of that as I hadn't considered that I might want to order a custom spidertron from the logistic network! Only the default spidertrons appear in the lists... But this way has served me well (being able to put spidertrons in and out of my inventory with the correct set of weapons, but without adding a bunch of items to the menus).
But then I started using the "Quick toggle spidertron" feature from the "Spidertron Enhancements" mod and my suggestion kind of became obsolete!

Thanks.