Create Wiki · Processing

Crushing Wheel

Crushing Wheels are Create's heavy-duty grinder. Two big wheels spinning towards each other crush everything that falls between them: ores, stone, bones, wool, blaze rods… They work on whole stacks, know every Millstone recipe and have crushing recipes of their own on top. They are the heart of any ore processing factory.

Create 6.0.8 · Minecraft 1.21.1 · updated on

Two Crushing Wheels driven in opposite directions crush gold ore dropped between them, then get fed by a Mechanical Belt.

Quick facts

Category
Processing
Stress
8 SU per RPM per wheel (512 SU for the pair at 32 RPM)
Setup
2 wheels, one block apart, spinning towards each other
Input
From the top, a whole stack processed at once
Rate
64 Raw Iron: ≈ 23 s at 64 RPM, ≈ 6 s at 256 RPM
Recipes
Crushing, otherwise Millstone milling
Crafting
Mechanical Crafter 5 × 5 (Andesite Alloy, planks, stone): 2 wheels
Version
Create 6.0.8 · Minecraft 1.21.1

Always in pairs

Two Crushing Wheels placed side by side with a one-block gap

A single crushing wheel does nothing: you need two wheels on the same horizontal axis, with one empty block between them, right where your input will fall, usually under the end of a belt or a chute. An invisible crushing zone then appears in the gap. Each wheel takes one block but sticks out about half a block all around, so in the middle the two wheels almost touch.

Each wheel uses 8 SU per RPM, so the pair takes 16, or 512 SU at 32 RPM. One small water wheel is not enough; you need at least two, or a large water wheel.

They must spin towards each other

The two Crushing Wheels spin in opposite directions, driven by cogwheels

This is the key point: the two wheels must spin in opposite directions, so that the tops of both wheels move towards the centre and pull the item in. The easiest way is to drive them from the same side through two paths where one reverses the direction, for example with one extra cogwheel on one side, as in the animation. If they spin the same way, nothing gets crushed. If items get thrown back up, both wheels run backwards: reverse the source.

Dropping items in from the top

Gold ore falls between the two Crushing Wheels

Items go in from the top, between the wheels, and come out underneath. A whole stack thrown in at once is processed in one go, slower than a single item but much faster than feeding them one by one. For example, 64 Raw Iron at 64 RPM takes about 23 seconds; at 256 RPM, about 6 seconds. Mobs that fall between the wheels take damage.

What the wheels can crush

One Raw Iron gives one Crushed Raw Iron and a 75% chance of an Experience Nugget. An ore block mined with Silk Touch gives one crushed ore plus a 75% chance of a second one, which is where crushing really pays off. Blaze rods give three or more Blaze Powder, netherrack gives Cinder Flour, tuff gives nuggets of several metals, diorite gives quartz and gravel gives sand. Anything without a crushing recipe falls back to the Millstone recipes.

Automating input and output

A sloped Mechanical Belt brings ores above the wheels, another belt collects the products underneath

For an automatic line, bring the ores on a Mechanical Belt that ends above the gap between the wheels: items drop straight in. Underneath, a second belt or a funnel on a chest collects the products. The natural next step: wash the crushed ores with an Encased Fan blowing through water, which turns them into nuggets and by-products.

Common mistakes

  • Items just sit on the wheels: the wheels spin the same way, or one of them is not turning at all.
  • The network stalls: 16 SU per RPM for the pair is a lot. Check with a Stressometer.
  • The wheels touch: without a one-block gap, there is no crushing zone.
  • Products pile up under the wheels: nothing collects them. A belt or a funnel underneath keeps the area from clogging up.
MillstoneMillstoneProcessingEncased FanEncased FanProcessingMechanical BeltMechanical BeltLogisticsWater Wheel and Large Water WheelWater Wheel and Large Water WheelKineticsCreate's decorative stones and blocksCreate's decorative stones and blocksDecoration

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Sources for the numbers (Create 6.0.8 code)
  • Stress: AllBlocks.java, CRUSHING_WHEEL, CStress.setImpact(8.0)
  • Rate: CrushingWheelControllerBlock (crushingspeed = |RPM| / 50); CrushingWheelControllerBlockEntity.tick (speed × 4 / log2(stack size), clamped to [0.25, 20] per tick), applyRecipe (one roll per item in the stack)
  • Recipes: CrushingWheelControllerBlockEntity.findRecipe (CRUSHING, otherwise MILLING); data/create/recipe/crushing/*.json (raw_iron 400, iron_ore 250, blaze_rod, netherrack, tuff, diorite, gravel)
  • Damage: CKinetics.crushingDamage = 4
  • Block recipe: mechanical_crafting/crushing_wheel.json (5 × 5, 2 wheels)
  • Scene: ProcessingScenes.crushingWheels

Original texts and animations by Create France, rendered from the mod's Ponder scenes. Create is a mod by the Create Team, not affiliated with Create France.