Crafting is an essential part of Minecraft, but sometimes it becomes a rather repetitive and tedious task. When this happens, you can use the crafter block to automate the process and keep making items even when you’re busy with other tasks.
It can be pretty daunting figuring out how this block works, but the crafter can be a total game changer and is certainly worth the investment. If you want to add this block to your base, here’s how to get and use a crafter in Minecraft.
How to get a crafter in Minecraft
The only way you can get a crafter is by making one yourself. You can find most other functional blocks around the world, especially in villages, but the crafter doesn’t spawn naturally anywhere.
Making a crafter requires a pretty sizeable amount of resources, so if you’re just starting off, you likely can’t make one yet. The items you need for this contraption require you to do lots of mining.
How to craft a crafter in Minecraft
To craft a crafter in Minecraft, you need eight items that must be combined at a crafting table. These items are:
- Five Iron Ingots
- One dropper
- One crafting table
- Two redstone dust
Place three Iron Ingots in the top row, a crafting table in the very center of the middle row with an Iron Ingot on either side, and a dropper in the middle of the bottom row with redstone dust on both sides.
How to use a crafter in Minecraft
You have to use various redstone components to power a crafter so it can be used. Redstone is one of the most confusing game mechanics, but you can make a pretty basic circuit to activate this item.
Here’s the simplest redstone circuit you can make to use a crafter in Minecraft.
- Place your crafter down in an open area.
- Move five blocks away from the crafter and place a block of redstone in the ground. This block should not be on the surface like the crafter and instead should be part of the actual ground.
- Place a redstone torch right on top of the block of redstone.
- Position yourself to be one block away from the redstone torch and two blocks away from the crafter. Place a redstone repeater here.
- Make sure the middle pieces are facing the redstone torch and the crafter, which means they must be horizontal rather than vertical. If they aren’t, the signal can’t get through, which means your crafter can’t be used.
- Move up one block and place a second redstone repeater just above the previous one. This one also needs to be horizontal.
- Place redstone dust next to both redstone repeaters. This should connect them to the redstone torch.
- Place one more redstone dust in between the crafter and the redstone dust to the right of the redstone repeaters.
Your circuit should now be complete, which means it will start crafting automatically as soon as you put items in it. As long as the entire circuit repeatedly alternates between lighting up a vibrant shade of red and going dark, the crafter is working. If it doesn’t flicker between the two colors, you may have missed a step, which means you should check your full build before continuing.
Once the crafter is on and working, you need to fill the slots in it with whatever items are required to craft the item you’re after. This is exactly the same process as a regular crafting table, so you can insert a stack of logs to continuously make planks, lots of cobblestone to produce cobblestone stairs, or sticks with coal to make torches.
The crafter also has a unique function where you can enable and disable slots within it to ensure only the slots you want to use are filled. You can enable and disable them as desired by clicking on them.
You can use the crafter to make anything you want, but one of the best uses for it is to craft items you need for protection and support when heading into dangerous areas like Trial Chambers or the Deep Dark biome. There are lots of formidable mobs like the Breeze and Warden waiting around these areas, so you need to be prepared for anything.
