- Creating Cobblestone
- Creating Stone
- Obsidian Generator
- The Bottom Line
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Creating Stone
Stone appears abundantly in the Overworld and is also formed ad hoc when lava flows on top of still or moving water. When mined with a normal pickaxe, it turns into cobblestone. Because this takes less time to mine than cobblestone, stone generators are a slightly more efficient method of obtaining cobblestone than through an actual cobblestone generator. Stone mined with a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch will drop a stone block instead of cobblestone, but all is not lost if you’re lacking one of these. Smelting cobblestone in a furnace also delivers a smooth, elegant stone block. Although using stone for construction, rather than the comparatively knobbly cobbles, is just a matter of aesthetics, it’s nice to have the choice of either that a stone generator delivers.
Start by creating the layout shown in Figure 3.8. This is similar to the cobblestone generator with some subtle differences; in particular, take note of the position of the hole in the ground and the slightly different geometry of the border blocks (as compared to Figure 3.3).
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FIGURE 3.8 The foundation of a stone generator.
Now place a set of four glass blocks on top (see Figure 3.9). These act as the tower well for the lava, allowing it to drop down onto the flowing water. You’ll need to add some temporary blocks to attach the two floating blocks in the correct position and then remove them. Alternatively, just create a square using eight glass blocks. Either way will work, and you can use any solid block material you prefer, except wood, which has the habit of bursting into flames when in close proximity to lava.
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FIGURE 3.9 Creating a tower well for the lava.
Finally, in this order, spill water into the far end of the trench and pour lava against the inside of one of the blocks at the top of the tower well. This positions the lava source block at the top of the tower so that it continually flows down. Assuming all has gone to plan, you’ll see a block of stone form almost immediately under the lava (see Figure 3.10).
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FIGURE 3.10 Place the water source first and then the lava to ensure they meet in the correct order, thus forming stone.
All that remains is to set up the same circuit to control the piston as you used in the cobblestone generator. Just make sure you use a stone button on the circuit’s starting block because stone buttons produce a 1-second pulse of power. A wooden button will push the piston forward for 1.5 seconds and not leave enough time while retracted for the lava to flow down once more into the water.
Extend the design further, if you like, by adding the same string of pistons shown in Figure 3.6 that created the self-healing cobblestone platform.
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