Create Wiki · Contraptions

Mechanical Drill

The Mechanical Drill breaks the block in front of its tip as soon as it spins. Stationary, it works as a cobblestone generator or a harvester. Mounted on a contraption (piston, bearing, minecart or train), it digs whole tunnels and quarries. Here is how it works, how fast it mines and how to collect what it breaks.

Create 6.0.8 · Minecraft 1.21.1 · updated on

A stationary drill breaks the planks in front of it, then does it again four times faster once the rotation speeds up.

Quick facts

Category
Contraptions
Stress
4 SU per RPM (128 SU at 32 RPM)
Stone at 32 RPM
≈ 2.4 s per block (≈ 0.55 s at 256 RPM)
Damage
3.5 at 32 RPM, up to 10 at 256 RPM
Rotation
From the back, opposite the tip
Version
Create 6.0.8 · Minecraft 1.21.1

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→ 1 Mechanical Drill

Breaking the block in front of the tip

Mechanical Drill driven by a shaft, cracking a block of planks

Point the tip at the block to break and supply rotation from the back, with a shaft or a cogwheel. The drill cracks the block stage by stage, then breaks it: the item drops on the ground right in front of it, without being flung away. If a new block appears in the same spot (cobblestone generator, growing tree, block pushed by a piston), it starts again on its own.

It doesn't break liquids, bedrock or unbreakable blocks. Also watch out for players and mobs getting close to the tip: it hurts, from 3.5 damage at 32 RPM up to 10 at most.

The faster it spins, the faster it mines

The same drill, sped up, breaks the planks much faster

The drill's strength is its speed divided by 100, compared with the hardness of the block. The result, as an approximate time to break one block:

Block16 RPM32 RPM64 RPM256 RPM
Dirt1.9 s1 s0.55 s0.15 s
Stone4.6 s2.4 s1.45 s0.55 s
Planks6 s3.3 s1.9 s0.55 s
Obsidian141 s71 s36 s9 s

Stress rises with speed: 4 SU per RPM, so 1,024 SU for one drill at 256 RPM. For a cobblestone generator, 32 to 64 RPM is plenty.

Mounting drills on a contraption

Four drills held together by chassis move forward on a Mechanical Piston, break through a wall of planks and store the blocks in an onboard chest.

The drill's real power is movement. Attach several drills to a chassis (or with Super Glue) and push the whole thing with a Mechanical Piston, a bearing, a gantry, a minecart or a train. Each drill then breaks the blocks the machine moves into, like a tunnel boring machine.

On a contraption, the drill no longer needs a shaft: the movement of the machine is what makes it work. On a minecart or a train, a minimum breaking speed is guaranteed, and it is even higher on a train.

What a moving drill breaks

The tunnel bore pushes into a wall of planks and breaks it apart

A mounted drill only works when the machine moves in the direction of its tip: in reverse, it breaks nothing. It leaves blocks without collision alone (tall grass, flowers, torches) and never touches train tracks, so you can dig around a line without damaging it. If a block holds out too long, the machine stays stuck in front of it until it gives way.

Collecting the blocks in an onboard chest

A chest glued to the tunnel bore collects the broken planks

Without storage, broken blocks fall on the ground and quickly get lost. Glue a chest, a barrel or an Item Vault to the contraption: everything the drills break goes straight into it. Once the machine is back, empty it with a funnel or a Portable Storage Interface.

Tips and common mistakes

  • It doesn't spin: the rotation comes in through the tip instead of the back, or the network is overstressed.
  • The bore stops: the piston has reached the end of its range, or a hard block (obsidian, deepslate ore) slows it down a lot.
  • Blocks are left behind: a drill is missing from the grid; you need one for every cell of the front face.
  • Pair it with mechanical belts to carry away the blocks from a stationary drill, or with a Mechanical Press in a processing line.
Mechanical BeltMechanical BeltLogisticsMechanical PressMechanical PressProcessingMechanical BearingMechanical BearingContraptionsSuper GlueSuper GlueContraptionsContraption ControlsContraption ControlsContraptionsMechanical PistonMechanical PistonContraptionsLinear and Radial ChassisLinear and Radial ChassisContraptionsMechanical RollerMechanical RollerContraptionsWrenchWrenchTools and equipment

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Sources for the numbers (Create 6.0.8 code)
  • Stress: AllBlocks.java, MECHANICAL_DRILL, CStress.setImpact(4.0)
  • Stationary breaking: BlockBreakingKineticBlockEntity (strength = |speed| / 100, progress clamp(strength / hardness, 1, 10), wait hardness / strength ticks); vanilla hardness (dirt 0.5, stone 1.5, planks 2, obsidian 50)
  • Damage: DrillBlock.getDamage (min(v/16, 2) + min(v/32, 4) + min(v/64, 4), capped at 10)
  • Contraption: BlockBreakingMovementBehaviour.getBlockBreakingSpeed (minimum 1 on a minecart, 2 on a train), DrillMovementBehaviour.isActive (not in reverse) and canBreak (no collision-less blocks, no tracks)
  • Items: BlockBreakingKineticBlockEntity.onBlockBroken (centred, no velocity); BlockBreakingMovementBehaviour.collectOrDropItem (onboard storage)
  • Recipe: data/create/recipe/crafting/kinetics/mechanical_drill.json

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.