Automate · Clear responsibilities · Verified August 18, 2026
Sandustry Automation Basics
Reliable automation starts when each component has one visible job and every material state has a destination.
Quick answer
What to do
Use Conveyor Belts for horizontal solid movement, Launchers for elevation, Filters for a vertical split, and later Pumps/Pipes/Liquid Vents for controlled liquid delivery. Processors still need open input and output space.
Give every component one job
| Component | Primary job | Failure to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Conveyor Belt | Move solids horizontally | Backpressure from a full destination |
| Launcher | Move launchable solids upward | Wrong aim or obstructed landing |
| Filter | Drop a configured pixel out of a mixed stream | Blocked exit, dense pile, state change |
| Pump + Pipe + Vent | Move liquids to a controlled outlet | No receiving capacity or overflow |
Why does a Conveyor Belt stop moving a pile?
A Conveyor Belt moves the solid pixels touching it; the pile above rides on those bottom pixels. If the lowest pixel cannot move forward, everything behind and above it waits. Clear the first blocked bottom pixel or make room at the destination instead of adding another belt behind the jam.
Hold Shift while placing a belt to reverse its direction. Liquids ignore belt direction and flow as they would over other ground, so a Conveyor Belt is not a liquid-control component.
How do Launchers move material upward?
Solid pixels entering a Launcher travel upward. A tower can lift them to any required height; only the top Launcher needs an angle to send the material left or right. Hold Shift during placement to force a straight upward top. Pickup happens on a timer, so a short pause before a pixel rises is not automatically a jam.
What does the Clearing Frame do?
The WIP Research page describes the Clearing Frame as a slow Conveyor-like structure that moves material inside its frame. Its documented uses include clearing material from static surfaces and pushing floating objects such as Wet Seeds in Water. Treat the in-game description as final because this entry is still patch-sensitive.
How do I copy or move a factory layout?
For a single placed structure, the official beginner guide documents selecting it with C, then using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. For a group, hold Shift to activate the Marquee and drag a selection: drag a selected block to move the group, hold C while dragging to copy it, or press Backspace to delete it.
Copy Pipes or a combined structure-and-Pipe layout
- Pipes only: switch to Pipes Mode, then use the normal selection tools to select, move or copy/paste the Pipes.
- Structures and Pipes together: hold Alt+C to select both layers for a unified blueprint.
- After placing: inspect the connections and outputs. Undo now includes Pipes; adjacent placement no longer automatically joins a network.
This is the v0.5.7 Update #4 behavior. It supersedes older instructions that excluded Pipes from selection. For a new connection or crossing, follow the current Pipe connection rules.
Separate reaction, transport and storage zones
Water can change Sand or Seeds; fire can change or destroy Residue. Keep those reactions in dedicated chambers, then transport stable outputs through Filters. This makes a stopped line diagnosable: you can see whether the material failed to react, failed to move or failed to enter storage.
Design for backpressure
Every output eventually fills. Add a visible buffer before storage and an accessible way to stop the input. A Filter with no space below can trap pixels, and a blocked Kinetic Press can stop all impacts. Overflow is a normal factory state to plan, not an edge case.
Commission in four passes
- Run each transport segment empty and verify direction.
- Run one known material through each processor.
- Verify every product and byproduct reaches its own buffer.
- Introduce continuous input slowly and watch the first point where a pile grows.