Minecraft players might recall often seeing large doors made of blocks that automatically retracted into the walls of the building when getting close. These doors are called Piston Doors, and with the advent of Honey Blocks, Slime Blocks, and Observers, Redstone Engineers have practically pushed these machines so far to be practically infinitely large.
In this guide, a few designs for Piston Doors will be detailed and mainly focus on teaching players the basics of how they work so they can go off on their own and discover how to create ones that go even further beyond. For most piston doors, a few materials will be required, and having quite a lot of each will help for experimentation:
- Sticky Pistons
- Observers
- Redstone
- Slime Blocks
- Honey Blocks
- Redstone Repeaters
- Access to various other Redstone Components
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Basic 2x2 Piston Door
The most basic piston door every Minecraft player has seen at some point, this one is straightforward to build. The first step is placing a 2x2 square of blocks, as if they were double doors, then putting pistons on either side, with a block in between.
The next step is to carve out a spot to the side of these pistons, a block on the back of each piston with a single piece of Redstone Dust on top. Players should also carve out a bit of the floor at this point, not as much as is taken out in these screenshots; it's only so much for demonstration purposes.
Minecraft players should now place Redstone Torches underneath the block on the back of the piston, extending both pistons to be touching the 2x2 of blocks. Now players should set a Redstone line connecting these two torches by running into the block underneath them using a repeater. This design should also be mirrored on the opposite side.
Now, blocks can be placed on top of these lines, with pressure plates on top. This door is functional and will open whenever players step on the plates. The door can also be prettied up now; as long as the Redstone remains in place, everything will work as intended.
3x3 Hipster Door
For a far more advanced and extraordinary design, players should try constructing a 3x3 hipster door. This will require a few more advanced Redstone mechanics than the previous design, but it is a great learning experience for any Minecraft player wanting to get into the technical side of things.
The Triple Piston Extender is the primary technique for these types of doors, the main point is having all the Redstone neatly tucked away underground, and they help quite a bit with this. The easiest way to start building them is by using repeaters and thinking about the timing, players should know that each right click of a repeater adds a tick of delay, and pistons take two ticks to fire.
An extremely basic Triple Piston Extender can push one block using this knowledge. This design will go three blocks forward and then retract three blocks backward. While other components, namely Observers and Comparators, could be used to make a far more compact design, this repeater-based one is still easier to understand and can be implemented in a door.
For this door, beginning with a 3x3 of any falling block with three sticky pistons underneath, then going from there is how it's done. Minecraft players may feel a little intimidated by learning these more advanced techniques, but they aren't too scary.
Using only Pistons, Repeaters, Dust, and Redstone Torches, this Hipster door quickly pops out of the ground and then slowly retracts back. While other tools could have done the job quicker, this design is more accessible for less technical players to comprehend and still works well.
6x6 Door with Honey Blocks and Slime Blocks
Now, armed with the knowledge of creating Triple Piston Extenders, Minecraft players can go horizontal and make a 6x6 Piston Door using the same technique. This means putting triple piston extenders on either side and alternating every three blocks horizontally and every block vertically between Slime Blocks and Honey Blocks.
This door is no easy feat to create. This design, in particular, employs observers to help with the Triple Piston Extensions, but players can still use a similar design to the one found previously. The only rule of thumb to remember is that Slime and Honey stick to most solid blocks but will slide freely between Redstone Components.
Once players have learned to deal with and master all of these mechanics and components, a new door will be opened, both literally and figuratively. Once these mechanics have been properly learned, nothing, including infinity doors, is impossible.
Infinitely Big Doors with Flying Machines
Flying Machines are like the Minecraft equivalent of space flight; the possibilities are limitless once it's been learned. This design is adapted from Mumbo Jumbo, and it allows for infinite horizontal extension as long as the flying machines are within the player's render distance.
It all starts at the base, which introduces Minecraft players to the concept of Flying Machines as a whole. Essentially, the lower piston fires from a redstone signal given by the player, pushing the top half up. Next, the lower observer puts the piston in a constant loop, as the upper observer tells the upper piston to fire, causing the machine to fly upwards.
After expanding on this for a few layers, the machine is now ready to launch; players who want to go off on their own and create any flying machine should be sure to make a type of infinite feedback loop where the machine will constantly push itself upwards, detect the upwards push, and then push itself up again.
When firing this machine, all the blocks move out of sync but eventually hit the roof, where they will all suddenly come to a stop and be able to be sent back down using one of the lower observers. The best part about this design is that it is endlessly tileable, using honey blocks.
By alternating between Slime and Honey, players can make this machine as long as they like and as tall as they want. It does become far more expensive in resources with each layer added, but the point is having something massive rather than something truly practical. The design is precisely replicated, just switching the slime for honey and vice versa until it is as long as desired.
This will result in a massive door that opens and closes very slowly but is also similar to the Hipster Door in that almost none of the Redstone is visible on the surface. It would surely make for an incredibly grand castle entrance or just an insane-looking piece to show off to others on a server.
Anyway they decide to take it, Minecraft players can take this design and iterate on it, making it theirs and fitting it to their needs. Furthermore, this design can be changed and altered in several ways, making it the best way to make infinitely large doors and a pretty convenient way to show off.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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