Talk:Piston/Archive 1

Merge Article With

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed merging of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.  No further edits should be made to this section.

The result was   merge. - 01:16, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

This article has pretty much the same info on it as Piston article, so I think it should be merged. It would make sense, and eliminate having to go to another article to read about Sticky Pistons. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 22:43, 28 June 2011‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with
 * It's a seperate block/data id. I see no reason to merge just because it's currently a stub (which is reasonable considering the patch isn't even out yet).  Both are Pistons but both behave differently. -- 22:53, 28 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree with the original author of this topic. This should be merged. -- 09:53, 30 June 2011 (MT)
 * Just include the sticky piston value under piston. It's function is the same aside from pulling. Crafting is simple enough as well. So, I would think this should be merged.-- 17:16, 30 June 2011 (UTC)
 * They should merge when they are released. Mushrooms and Flowers have different IDs (36 and 37 for flowers, 38 and 39 for mushrooms) and they are in the same page. C ali nou - ×  » 06:42, 29 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Mushrooms and Flowers are also damn near identical to each other (aside from appearance and minor differences with crafting). They all "do" exactly the same thing though (which is, make stew or look pretty and make dye). Sticky Pistons behave significantly different from regular pistons.  I just don't see a reason to bloat the already large Pistons article, which is only going to become larger once the things are actually released.  -- 14:26, 29 June 2011 (UTC)


 * - As with the previous reasons, sticky pistons are just a derivative of the regular piston. There is no need to have separate pages as this only results in unnecessary fragmentation and hassles during info look-up. - 07:04, 6 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Like I said before, merging the two similar blocks onto one article eliminates the need for linking specifically to Sticky Pistons. This will increase the view rate for this page as well as save the time needed to search up or link to a separate article. There is no need to have 2 stub pages if we can merge them into 1 full article that we can move up and down without having to reload a new page or add a discussion onto another talk page when the two blocks are very closely related that any discussion about one will most likely involve/include the other. - 04:58, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
 * — There is only one difference, and that is that they move blocks in two directions. A separate Sticky Piston article will always be either duplicating material of the Piston article or saying "It also moves blocks when retracting". For example, the sticky piston has statements such as that you cannot pull a jack-o-lantern with a sticky piston — but that is equally true of pushing. It is redundant and obscures a description of the commonalities. — 13:02, 6 March 2012 (UTC)


 * The first argument against it is correct, it is a seperate block id and therefore needs to stay on a seperate page. Would you put powered rails and dectector rails under just rails? -- 14:26, 8 March 2012 (EST)


 * - These two topics are essentially the same. The sticky piston just pulls blocks back. It is just like the two types of mushrooms. -- 00:04, 11 March 2012 (EST)


 * - There are two data/blocks different. And they are working differently. This situation isn't the same that slabs. So no, it is not good to merge this page with the classical piston. -- 05:47, 18 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Let's do like for, s and s. Sticky pistons are just pistons that also pull blocks. C ali nou - ×  » 12:17, 18 March 2012 (UTC)


 * It's basically a piston with a slimeball slapped on the front. On Wikipedia, there wouldn't be different articles for a dinner table and a dinner table with plates on it. Same thing here. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 00:49, 25 March 2012‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with


 * They're basically and functionally the same. -- 06:29, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

It's been almost a year since the initial proposal. If we go by counts, it's 9 for merge with 3 against. Repeating the original reasons, the Sticky Piston is a derivative of the Piston, and both have the same general function. Merging the two will prevent any repetition of content that is likely to occur since the two blocks are very similar. I think we can merge now. - 01:16, 12 April 2012 (UTC)


 * ''The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. No further edits should be made to this section.

Mod
Guys this is a mod he decided to use see this video for a lot of info http://www.youtube.com/user/Coestar?feature=chclk#p/u/3/rugjyQxKy1s (it has the info about halfway through) -- 21:39, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Disputed?
Why is this disputed? There's been confirmation. Shouldn't we move this to future? 00:31, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Small error
The table describing the mod starts and ends with a "/div". Guess the starting parameter should be "div", am I correct? Any way, there is something wrong with the formatting –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 13:01, 9 April 2011‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with
 * FIX'D. Along with the fact that half the data values are unknown, but that's okay. -- 13:13, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Image is same as Booster Rail in 1.5
This raises several questions as to the future of pistons. The largest debate I can see is if Notch is using the image for pistons for booster rails, then will he be creating a new piston, or leaving them to the modders? This would of course bring this page under question as it would need to be edited to fit into the wiki. (also as a new member I am not sure, but from what I have seen the wiki does not often comment/catalog modded content, thus this page may need to be removed.) Also, I have changed the wording of "pistons were not added in 1.5, but will be..." to "... in 1.5, but might be..." as in no post has notch solidly confirmed that it will be part of the game. The tweet from jeb only states that he is talking to the modder, not that it is a sure thing. UPDATE: Thanks to whomever changed the image, i have stricken my previous argument. As notch has confirmed that the piston mod is being added I have stricken my other argument. -- 16:30, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Beta 1.6
Where has anyone said that pistons will be added in 1.6? Did I miss a twitter or blog post? Last time I checked, the only new thing being added was maps. 22:47, 14 May 2011 (UTC)


 * I went ahead and removed it. I think it's safe to keep removing it if it gets readded unless the person adding it can provide a valid source. 「」· 00:59, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

Piston pushing piston
Had anybody tried to make piston push another piston? Piston occupying 2 blocks? -- 17:57, 26 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes. I made it. I'm not sure if I can post a link to my mod here.
 * Jeb_ already knows about it. 11:44, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
 * soo... what happens? I havent tried that, I havent tried ANY mod yet, because I have problems with their installation... -- 12:38, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Both pistons move. 07:46, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Finite Liquids, Sponges and Pistons
I seen video with mod, which makes Finite Liquids, Pipes and gives new purpose for Sponges. When Sponge takes some water, you can press - right click it to squeeze the water out. Would be great if you can use Piston to squeeze the water by using Redstone signal. Of course two interacting mods are probably even harder to make, but I hope Notch will make either both or at least one (probably Pistons) of them official part of MC. Then it could be piece of cake. What do you think of Piston-Sponge combo? -- 12:38, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Spikes Their Own Block?
Jeb_ says on his twitter that the method they may use is that spikes may be their own block, with can be used on their own or in conjunction with sticky pistons. Should we have a new article on this? - 01:02, 9 June 2011 (UTC)
 * They may be their own block. We should create an article after it's confirmed.
 * It is confirmed http://twitter.com/#!/jeb_/status/78559908211081216

Crafting?
Is there a blank image we could use for the crafting output? It looks ugly with the error text. 23:41, 14 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Just don't put an output... – ( at 02:59, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Moving pistons
But haven't you noticed in the video made by Jeb? Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJr86d2IUo&feature=player_embedded He constructed a wall that turns into stairs with an entrance, but... It is impossible to create this without moving a piston by another piston! Proof: 2:49 in video - repeaters attaching nothing (that's where pistons move) 2:55 in video - a piston just in the way of the other one! *Sorry for my bad english* -- 20:58, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I noticed that too. I think its good they behave that way. Except I would appreciate, if they could propel you and sand. Maybe if there was one more kind of them which would do that. Also, moveable chests would be neat... -- 21:50, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Block Removal
Can we confirm that there's no way of removing a block from a sticky piston? My understanding is that other pistons could move them quite easily. If we cannot confirm, there's no point in having it in the article. 01:30, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * If you are referring to whether another piston could move the stuck block from a sticky piston, then I can say that it works. HOWEVER, if you put up the orientation of two sticky pistons sharing a corner (so they'll push in perpendicular directions while sharing the same block in the retracted position), then if you have both activated so that they're supposed to be extended (although one will be forced in a retracted state), then when you retract the extended piston, the block it was attached to will disappear. Also, the piston that should have been able to extend will visually glitch such that its paddle disappears. You can recover the paddle by changing the state of the extended piston or by destroying it. You cannot recover the block that it should be attached to. The same happens if the piston that started out in a forced retracted state is a normal piston.-- 18:13, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Pistons mod
Is this page both about mod and block, or just block?

If both, we should put here. When I tried to do it, my edit was undone with comment "the mod has no place here anymore, ...".

If only block, shouldn't redirect here. That redirect should be deleted.

08:18, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree it should be about the block, not the mod.

How many blocks can pistons move at once
Jeb posted on twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/jeb_/status/81386768913534976) that piston currently can move up to 12 blocks

Someone please add this to a page because i suck at it.

-- 21:00, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Pistons and fluids
Jeb tweeted that pistons indeed will be unable to push water or lava. Might add that somewhere considering I've had questions about this very matter in the server I play on. Jeb was apparently asked this before he answered. &mdash; 16:50, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

How much can be pulled
"Pushing (and pulling if sticky) at least 1 block, and at most 12" Does this mean that a sticky piston can pull more than 1 block? This should be clarified. 19:53, 19 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I dont think it would work. I would like it if did, but I doubt. You would then for example have I block pushed touching another block, pulling both back. -- 12:18, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Doesnt work, just tried it, it cna only pull 1 block. If that block is a piston, it won't get pulled if it is extended. Sadly this makes big drawbridges impossible for now. -- 14:59, 30 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, sadly doesn't work, but it is understandable. Some kind of control should be needed, where you can somehow set how many blocks should be pulled back, otherwise it could destroy other mechanisms, or simply the world. :) I could think about sticky blocks, where you can make any block sticky and those would move together with piston movements and would pull back as one too. -- 12:12, 01 July 2011 (UTC)
 * For that, mc would need a new item-> glue (made out of slime) -- 16:01, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

self building house
should this be added? i mean this is quite a feat that people have manged to do here is a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTZMU90CJRU&feature=related 06:34, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

This is with the Piston Mod isnt it? Not the official piston. So shouldn't this go to the mod's page? 15:40, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

True...but is't this possible with the new pistons notch added? unless they catch fire or something. maybe someone should try? -- 20:22, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

i just did a test and it indeed works with the pistons Notch added. it can't push as many blocks but i was able to make a small self building house. i dont know how to make youtube videos.... so i'm hoping someone will and and that they will add a link demonstrating it-- 22:02, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

I created a house that builds/repairs itself this-morning and finished it this evening. If I get time tomorrow I might make a video of it along with a tutorial. It's truly not that hard to do if you have the materials and time. -- 2:35, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Plz make a video.. i think it would be a great addition on this page 05:54, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Okay, but first let me get some TNT and pretty up the house a little bit xD

I could also add a part to the video that shows how the house actually works.

13:47, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isMsEVIb4v4

16:43, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Release Date
Should it be mentioned on this page? Notch said on his twitter that they plan for a release date of 6/30/11 18:43, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

It has now been released in 1.7. We can remove this page. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 21:06, 30 June 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Bugs
Piston/Sticky Piston with block on top and a pressure plate crashes SSP... permanently. Dunno where to put this in the page, but yea... created an account just to say this bug. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 14:23, 30 June 2011‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Pistons can easily crash the game. Don't let it push ANYTHING but normal solid Blocks, then you should be on the safe side. I tried some, and got enough crashes with pushing water, torches and other things. -- 14:56, 30 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Pushing Sand/Gravel over a hole with a sticky piston and just before it falls down pulling it back, will fill the hole with a copy of the original block. Finally Glass without destroying our Beaches :D -- 17:02, 30 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Pushing Ice: Pushing an ice block (horizontally) works.  Also works if you push it into a non-ice block, but pushing ice into ice results in both ice being destroyed and water being generated.   23:28, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Corrupted my world with a piston
How do I retreive my world? It got stuck on the saving chunk screen after i tried to push a torch; do not make automatic light switches. 14:30, 30 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I have the same problem but with pushing the lever that activated it. 14:34, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Oh my, I lost both of my worlds by pushing random blocks and right-clicking sheeps... Looks like the only solution is to use MCEdit to remove pistons from the map, but I don't know for the sheep issue. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 14:40, 30 June 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Well if you go to your saves folder in the .minecraft folder, open the folder with the name of your corrupted map and drag level.dat to your desktop. Delete the folder and create a new one with the exact same name as before and drag level.dat back into the folder. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  11:44, 10 September 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Vandalised
This page has been vandalised a few times now. Can someone protect this and roll it back? 15:39, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

It's just a big discussion about old piston stuff no need? 18:48, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Possible Bug?
So I tried to re-create jeb's self revealing doorway using pistons. I did a simple test where a switch make a sticky piston push upwards. That would push another sticky piston, which with the help of a redstone diode would make the top piston push sideways. It worked fine, however I couldn't retract it back. When I flipped the switch off, the top piston came back the the bottom sticky piston didn't. It stayed it its "extended" form. Only then I placed an item in the same chunk did it "refresh" and the bottom one pulled back (sorta like how sugarcane without water will uproot when you activate redstone in the same chunk). So is this a bug? And how do I re-create jeb's house in the video the way he did in one swift motion? 15:46, 30 June 2011 (UTC)
 * You do it like this mufu ;) – 19:17, 30 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Correct me if I'm wrong, but nowhere in the vid do I see pistons pushing other pistons. So it doesn't help me. Also its the piston mod, it would be different than the official pistons. 20:43, 30 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Nvm, I found a way to get around it. I still think this might be a bug, if I need to "refresh" the chunk for it to work. 00:01, 1 July 2011 (UTC)


 * How did you find a way around this? I was having the same problem; maybe we should mention this in the article.


 * I also have this issue. There are no redstone (any type) nearby and yet when I place the sticky piston, it extends automatically. I tried replacing the immediate surrounding stones with other blocks and torches, etc, and then trying again, yet nothing fixes it: it continues to extend; "magically" if you will. It was working perfectly before but then it stopped. What makes me confused is that there is nothing touching it (other than the cobblestone which it sits on [and even that I replaced to see if it would work]) yet it still extends. 23:19, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Youtube Videos of Bugs
Do we really need these? They are taking up a ton of space on the page. I don't want to make a judgement call on whether they violate Rule 16 or not (though I suspect the verbal explanation is good enough for most), but at the very least, can we not embed them? -- 20:52, 30 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The Users are watching these videos so i think yes we need videos (embeded). And it's a better explanation how to use these bugs as only text is. -- 21:53, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Piston to piston
I noticed that there is a particular way in which two sticky pistons must be oriented to interact with each other. If they are paddle to base, then the sticky side won't pull the other piston from its base. However, if they are paddle to paddle, then you can get them to stay attached. Is this something that should be noted under functionality, or is this a bug?-- 16:49, 30 June 2011 (UTC)


 * After more investigation, it's a matter of whether the pistons are extended. If the paddle of piston 1 connects to the base of piston 2, then piston 2 won't return with piston 1 if it is extended. Also, if you first retract piston 2, it will bring the block it is connected to with its paddle as normal, but won't retain its stickiness once you then retract piston 1. I suppose the default function of the pistons cannot affect the second block beyond it even if that block is another sticky piston. I suppose this is a method that could be used to make locked passageways because any piston cannot move an extended piston. -- 17:07, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Destruction Clarification
Tile entities are destroyed if they are pushed by a piston. Are they destroyed as in annihilated, or simply turned into items? The text is not clear. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 21:19, 30 June 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Piston Use
I have a new use for a piston, to move glass blocks (because breaking them won't drop anything). Can I add this to the uses section? 00:05, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Extendable and retractable pistons device!
Probably this has already been done but so far as I know I'm the first to actually document it. So what I've created is an automatic sticky piston retraction and extension device. I made this very hastily so I apologize for the screenshots, I'll fix it in the morning cause its near midnight here.

So one side is an extension device, very simple and not much to mention. It is spaced so that it will activate all the pistons in order. Here it is:

Next you have the retraction device, which I am very proud of. It retracts the sticky pistons once they extend. It works in 3 'phases' and has two parts, the phase timing and the triggering mechanism. The phase timer makes sure that all the phases go in order, and the trigger times each piston's firing:

Triggering mechanism. This uses descending redstone repeater values to trigger the whole thing one piston at a time.

and the Phase timer. This does each phase in sequential order.

I have parental controls logging me out soon, but I'll get more action screenshots going tomorrow. The best part is that I could add extra pistons and more phases for them with little hassle to make a maximum 13 piston extender, which is 27 blocks If I'm correct. It also wouldn't be hard to separate extender and retracter so as to make a drawbridge with an open/close switch.

I'm so happy I made this! 03:59, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

--Alright, I've done some work and I'm certain I can recreate this and put it to use on a drawbridge or something of the like. I made a model that uses 7 pistons; the redstone usage is very draining but It works very well, extending and contracting in about 6-8 seconds.

Can we put this under uses as an extension and/or retraction device? It seems pretty useful even if it is so complex. - 21:55, 1 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Please do. I'm working on something and need a nice drawbridge. -- 23:16, 1 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, since Pistons only extend when redstone powers them and redstone has to have blocks to be placed, a true drawbridge that extends through air is impossible. Its possible to use torches to transmit a signal upward to power the pistons, which would mean a pitfall of two blocks right under the drawbridge. It's also possible to make a portcullis if you're going for a medieval castle, or a walkway that pops out of a wall, but not an ideal drawbridge. I was mostly making this to get a better idea of how to use pistons and to give myself something to do with them. I admit I don't have many ideas for use horizontally, but vertically it could make a nice elevator. I haven't created that yet though, its a bit harder to make.  02:11, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

I found a design flaw that slowed the retraction time, and also made a few other tweaks to get a faster retractor device. This one also uses far less redstone, opposed to the astronomically expensive first design. Haven't made a 7 piston retractor, but I have a 5 piston retractor here, which does its retraction phase in about 4 seconds. Interestingly enough, this design actually toggles leaving the sandstone block and retracting it with the pistons, although by separating the retraction and extension the same feat can be accomplished without so much hassle.

02:13, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Piston crash, can't find in which category this crash belongs
Hi,

I'm crashing with that Pistons edge case:

Yet, I don't know in which category this crash belongs to. It does not create a "Savings chunks...", it just freezes the game as soon as the first piston moved. The world gets corrupt too (I don't mind, Dropbox is performing saves).

Any thoughts?-- 06:59, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Specific about a bug mentioned on the page
Somebody said under bugs that sometimes a piston may be powered when it is powered by a redstone torch even when the torch is powered off. This is actually because in order for the redstone torch to be powered off, the block it is connected to has to be powered ON. If that block is in contact with the piston or to where the piston may extend to, the block might actually be powering the piston and not the torch.

Hope this helps... 21:48, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Piston Bug
I used pistons to make a new doorway to my house. I made a mistake putting the lever down in the hole where the piston was. I pulled the lever.. and the piston made a weird sound (BOUFH). The game sorta crashed. The screen said Saving Chunks, with no loading bar. The window went small, and had a pure black screen. I quit and went back on, I saw my world flash, then it did the same thing as before. My first ever world... gone. Could anyone help with this? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 23:02, 1 July 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Sticky Piston Theory
Notch had said (or was it Jeb) that if two sticky pistons grasp the same block at the same time, one sticky piston will get the block. I did controlled tests on this theory by making a plus shape in the ground and putting sticky pistons at the back. Each sticky piston orients towards the middle, in the opposite direction it is placed (The piston at the north faces south). A diagram is shown below.

GGGGGGG GGGNGGG GGGAGGG GWABAEG GGGAGGG GGGSGGG GGGGGGG


 * G = Grass (w/ redstone)
 * N = North Sticky Piston (Facing south)
 * W = West Sticky Piston (Facing east)
 * S = South Sticky Piston (Facing north)
 * E = East Sticky Piston (Facing west)
 * B = Test Block
 * A = Air

Each sticky piston is joined on by redstone and a lever, so they operate at exactly the same time. One piston will get the block, and I note it down. I repeat the test two more times to confirm the result: This is a table showing the pistons used (Not where it orients) and the piston that got the block.

However, the directions are to be reversed, since they are being pulled in the opposite direction. This means:

The two tables show that Sticky Pistons follow the North-South quirk (if that's what it's called?) when a group of Sticky Pistons attempt to pull back the same block. They also seem to follow the South/West rule, which means that if you test any of these ideas with a sticky piston to the North, you can be certain that the block will be pulled to the North Piston (it retracts south). As for the East-West test, the block was pulled West, probably due to the South/West rule as well. 00:06, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Changes Made
I made a moderate change to the page:


 * Removed a bullet, as it is stated twice in the Bugs section
 * Fixed some typos and grammar issues in the Bugs section –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 02:28, 2 July 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

History Citation?
The history claims code is used from the Piston Mod, however I believe notch has tweeted that all code for all updates is written in house. I'll try and dig up that tweet, but does anyone have any citations for the history paragraph? 07:11, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Piston railways
It seems that you can make a piston move railways on the same level as the horizontal piston even retracting it with sticky the railway will change to fit existing rail. When pushed over a hole the railway will break. When placing a railway on a block affected by a horizontal piston the railway will break if the piston is powered, both sticky and regular do this even on retract if replaced once broken. When placing railway on a block standing on a piston the railway can be pushed up but will break if the block is retracted down. A railway pushed from above will count as a whole block. when piston is sticky the railway will be lifted from its place to hang in the air. Destroying the piston will the break the railway. -- –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 07:59, 3 July 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with
 * Please sign your posts with ~ (I had to add your name myself).
 * Also, I am unable to get this functionality. The SMP server I attempted to play around with this on refused to extend a piston that pushed a block that had a rail piece on top of it.  Previously it would pop the rail off (if it was pushed vertically at all) or not move (as long as an acceptable block was pushed under).-- 20:26, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Pros and Cons
Rename Pro and Cons, those are opinions –The preceding unsigned comment was added by ( . Please sign your posts with

New Bug?
In my messing around with pistons and redstone, I discovered something that I think is a bug. It is rather complex to explain, so I will just tell how I found it, and if I don't make any sense, please tell me. 1. Dig a 1 block deep hole 2. Place a sticky piston on the east or west lip of the hole so that the extension would cover the hole when powered, but leave it open when un-powered. 3. Place a redstone wire in the hole 4. Link the redstone wire to another wire on the south or north lip of the hole. 5. Place a redstone torch by the wire so that it powers the wires, but not the piston. 6. Attach any solid block to the sticky part of the pistion (I use dirt). Result: The piston will continually push and retract as if connected to a blink device.

Regular pistons are effected by this, too, but since they don't pull the block back with them, they only push and pull out once.

I tested this out in multiple other scenarios, and it will not work if the orientation is changed (E.g. The piston is on the north or south lip of the hole). It will not work if the redstone in the hole is connected to another wire on its own level to the south or north, however the wire can be connected to the east or west just fine.

I can get a screenshot if it is needed, however, I cannot provide a screencap video (Machine lags too hard when running a screencap program and minecraft at the same time).

I don't really know what causes this, but as it is direction oriented, I assume it has something to do with the south/west rule. 00:18, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

-It isn't a bug that it blink-retracts, but it is odd that it only works in some directions. I never really did understand the north-south quirk. What happens is the redstone on top powers the block being moved, which powers the redstone underneath, which powers all 4 blocks surrounding it (in the ground), including the one under the piston. Pistons can't be activated from the side that extends, so power takes this circuitous route. That makes the piston then extend, and since the piston is a translucent block allows the redstone to change orientation and connect in a straight line, so that it no longer powers the piston. Repeat. The North/South redstone wires will prevent the redstone wire from changing orientation, but the east to west ones should keep it changing. Its just an interesting piston property, like logic gates or any other piston device. Good to know for a single piston blinker, however. 00:12, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

That's good to know. I messed around with the idea some more and found something that is a real bug. Hook two of these up using normal pistons to face each other (2 block long hole east to west with a piston on the east and west lips and repeaters on the south or north lips so they face the hole) When a block is placed in between (again, I used dirt) the pitons rapidly push the block back and forth for a couple of ticks, and then the dirt block disappears to be replaced by a standalone piston head. It seems to be the same type of head that you get from breaking a piston that's attached to a blink device, but the pistons are both still there, and it consumed a block to make it 00:54, 9 July 2011 (UTC).

Piston Time
How many s does it take for a piston to push out/in? Is it different for normal and sticky pistons? I'd like to know this, and I'm sure others would, too, so could it be posted up? 00:30, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Alright, now I've run a test and got a suspicious 0 ticks output. So this is certainly not a reliable method of testing. What I did is this: I placed a piston and a 1/4 redstone repeater a block to the side and in front of it, both pointing in the same direction. I had a dirt and glass block in front of the piston, with the dirt block powered by a redstone torch. I had a 1/4 repeater pointing away from the dirt block. This and the other repeater are both hooked up to my very reliable verification system which pushes a dirt block if the piston and repeater are both powered at the same time. I then powered both the piston and repeater with a torch (both "lit up"). The result was the dirt block remaining in the same place. Subtracting the 1-tick repeater on the piston from the 1-tick direct one I get 0 ticks. Doesn't make sense, and the same result came with a 2/4 repeater. 01:02, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

I have no idea what you just said, but from my observations with piston retractors it seems a sticky piston takes 1 tick to move either in or out. The device pulls a piston with a piston, and the piston pulled extends instantly afterwards. It doesn't work with a 1/4 repeater as the first piston gets stuck outward, but a two tick timer works perfectly, making it seem that a sticky piston extends/retracts in 2 ticks, so 1 tick both ways. I also have an extension device which works with 1/4 repeaters between extending pistons, in much the same way I described above, so extension must be 1 tick. I don't have any conclusive evidence on normal pistons, but it seems that it would be clear if there was any tick difference from sticky pistons. 00:24, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

From what I can tell, the destination space is updated after one tick, but the origin space is updated after zero ticks. To test this, I had two pistons trying to push blocks into the same tile, one hooked up to a piston transistor and the other to a repeater. I would simply check to see what delay it would take for the pistons to switch from one to the other. 00:39, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

I think the time is 0.15s beacuse I have developed an experiment to test the delay when use a piston in redstone circuit and I get the answer of "between 1 tick and 2(redstone tick)".And for a game tick is 0.05s,I think it is 0.15s for a piston to complete an action. 05:42,7 May (UTC)


 * It is 2 ticks to extend, and 2 to retract, but it will only seem like 0 for retracting, because the block is moving at the start. 00:59, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Can this delete server worlds too?
"NEVER try to be crushed between 2 walls of piston, this will cause the game to crash, and losing your world" Will this delete a server's world? 05:29, 6 July 2011 (UTC)mitterdoo

Trap Hole
I have mad a trap using sticky pistons that has a top of 2x2 that drops whatever is on top below when applied with a redstone current. It is kind of hard to explain with text, but I was just wondering if and where I should post it, and how. 00:11, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Piston-based minecart launcher
The Uses section states that the slant method for launching minecarts can be used with a sticky piston to reset the track, but I don't think it's possible so simply; I've tested it and when the block is pulled back down level with the rest of the track, the rails pop out. (Test video I've made) Note that it does work to launch a cart just fine, but to reset the track properly you have to lay the rails back down or use a much more convoluted sticky piston setup 02:34, 10 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Yeah, the rails should pop off the block, since the sticky piston will only pull the block underneath it down. If a normal piston is used on the bottom, then it should be possible to push the rails back down with another normal piston above them. 20:13, 10 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, using a normal piston worked for the raised block and rail, but the rails that become slanted on either side still pop out. So my solution now is to drag those slanted rails out with stickies, push the raised block back down, and then push the other two rails back into place. (video!) 22:41, 10 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Ah, I didn't even think that the angled rails would break off. Now all it needs is some clever wiring. 23:31, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Efficient XOR Gate
Here's an efficient XOR gate constructed from pistons and repeaters. It has (I believe) a propagation delay (total delay) of 1 tick, and a contamination delay of 0 ticks.

18:27, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Powering a single piston in a vertical stack
So, imagine a vertical stack of pistons facing sideways. How one would power a single piston in the middle of the stack? Though powering them through a solid block works for now, article states it's just a bug that keeps a piston below un-updated. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 08:55, 18 July 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Inaccurate Information
Main Page states: "Two sticky pistons with solid blocks attached can also be used to convert trees into log items as well; although it can require some ingenuity to determine out how to get the topmost logs down to the ground using this method." Perhapse they are refering to the mod version but I have not been able to create this effect. Either state that this is useing mod pistons, state more clearly how this is done, or remove it from the page. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 19:44, 22 July 2011 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Piston texture glitch
i just noticed that though there is a picture of the glitch, the article does not explain what causes it. i ran into this glitch today, and took a picture. i made an account to point this out, and i don't know how to post a picture. can someone please tell me? -- 00:11, 20 August 2011 (UTC)
 * it can be created if you make a BUD with a horizontal piston, then activate the bud by placing another piston infront. it will be pushed and create this textureglitch
 * i have also a question for this, is it potentialy dangerous to have this on a map or is it just a normal block? -- 14:28, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

?
Exactly where did you get the from, as far as I know, they aren't vanilla minecraft. The line should be removed.-- 16:29, 4 September 2011 (UTC)


 * It's an upcoming feature. 17:56, 4 September 2011 (UTC)


 * It might be upcoming or it could have been scrapped, but these are the refs: and . -  00:11, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Can not push Obsidian, why?
that bedrock and portals are not allowed to push is understandable, but why obsidian? -- 13:42, 30 October 2011 (UTC)


 * If you could push obsidian into somebody's head, they would not be able to do anything before they died, unless they had a golden apple ready to be eaten immediately and a diamond pick in their inventory. Even at this, they would need to act fairly quickly, and there could easily be more obsidian waiting to be pushed into the trapped player's head. Likewise, you could also use pistons to quickly and easily breach an obsidian wall/fortress. 17:31, 30 October 2011 (UTC)
 * first point, nah. the second point is more or less ok. but both counts as griving on most servers. -- 21:55, 4 November 2011 (UTC)


 * You can't do anything with a block in your head and your movement blocked. You die in ten seconds from suffocation, it takes 15 seconds to mine obsidian with a diamond pick. Also, it would be too easy to move obsidian around in general, especially for grieving. 04:23, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

but if you could push obsidian you could make an awesome portal room where you flip a switch and a obsidian door-frame forms in the center of the room and a dispenser shoots a fire charge to light the portal....it would be AWESOME 22:30, 7 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Obsidian is to heavy to be pushed, it is the 2nd hardest substance in the game!

13:31, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

A more "basic" AND-gate
here is a more basic AND-gate, the one on the page is ... too complicated :) -- 22:22, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Think you can apply that principle to an XOR gate? -- 22:45, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
 * the one XOR from above is ok, not the smallest but ok with timings. here is my version: one with a little help of an inverter, the second one has the inverter with pistons. on the left side is the output. but there is a small issue, if you activate both inputs at the same time, there may be a wrong output state for one tick (but this is too small for any torch or piston to toggle) --  18:49, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Sticky pistons detaching from their block is not a bug.
When a sticky piston is extended using a 1-tick signal, it leaves the block it was pushing in the pushed position instead of pulling it back. Giving it a 1-tick signal a second time lets it pull the block back. This appears to be not a bug but a feature and should therefor be moved to another section, although I currently can't think of any. The reason to move it is that this behaviour makes a vast amount of different circuits possible, but people won't use it because - since everybody thinks it is a bug - they expect it to be fixed at some point in time which would break the circuitry.

Citation: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/754464-smallest-t-flip-flop-works-in-100/page__view__findpost__p__9878355

17:17, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Enchanment Tables being pushed
"Pistons cannot push Enchantment Tables due to the fact they are made from Obsidian."

I think the reason why pistons can't move tables is that they are blocks with tile entities and not just because they're made from obsidian. (I hope you can understand my English.) --☺ undefined 15:14, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

soulsand?
can thwe sticky piston push soulsand or break nether wart? if yes, then semi-automatic nether wart farms can be made –Preceding unsigned comment was added by   22 February 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with

Changes
Someone modified the Pistons so I have rolled back and changed some of the details as someone put in that you need a piston and diamond pick to make a sticky piston, I have changed this back to slime ball. They also said you needed stone, cobblestone, iron block and some other material to make a normal piston which was incorrect so I rolled back to a previous version which had correct information. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 22:29, 23 February 2012. Please sign your posts with
 * This sort of vandalism happens fairly often; you don't need to mention when you revert it. -- 06:45, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Cleanup needed
The article currently reads like one long list of trivia; it should be organized into coherent paragraphs. I'm not so great at writing prose, and almost anyone can do it much faster than I could. -- 10:28, 29 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes I agree, but this article will need some big edits in order to rewrite the content into prose format and remove any redundant information. Hopefully, people can at least make small edits that will add up and fix the problems. - 01:19, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

Disappearing pistons 1.2.3
On our smp server we have alot of pistons wired to a timer. And after the 1.2.3 update these pistons as seen in the video, are invisible and no longer working. You still can see the black outlines when you aim at them. They disappear entirely when a block is placed near to them.

This bug seems to be only happening in 1.2.3 since after 1.2.4 it seems to be fixed. Also it might be a rare issue since we have been looting here for almost 24/7 for long time. Stacking up gold :)

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXhBc2aTKgo –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  11:36, 7 April 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with
 * I had the exact same glitch on a redstone world i posted on PMC, it had a few contraptions involving fast pistons. One being a legitimate hoe activated trap, the top one randomly started turning into an invisible block that could not be interacted with. I later figured out that was the piston moving block, . the only reason i did was because the block was unaligned with the world. No matter how many times i replaced the piston, it just kept disappearing. When it updated to 1.2.4, that fixed itself. I had a legitimate hidden room in a lavaplace thing, where clicking a button cleared the lava and opened the other side allowing you to have access. To cut to the chase, i too had the same glitch, no fix for it for that.

Moving Block Traps
For those who read it before I have gotten most of my answers. Moving block traps Cannot catch regulary spiders. Can be walked on the connecting parts of the block. Donnot affect redstone, water, signs, ect, placed on top. I still have some questions but I don't think you answer them so Ill find out own my own.-- 23:43, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

End portal frame
It is also not possible for a piston to push nor pull a end portal frame. Just tested it out, it's not possible.

Get someone to go over the bugs
Hey, started going over the bugs section on pistons, and I've noticed around 5-6 different variations describing quasiconnectivity. It's all the same bug, so we don't need that many different entries for it, all dressed slightly differently - you could sum the whole thing up in one sentence. Also that's not really the bug, but I won't go into that.

I suggest you have someone who is good with BUD's go over the bug section here and fix some stuff up. I made this handy tutorial on BUD's if someone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JxfozMo4Ig

Piston powering bug
So I researched some of the already known piston bugs, but none of them seemed to match the bug that I am experiencing. I just wanted to describe this to the community and see if it is actually a problem. The piston glitch can be replicated as follows:

R B A A

R is redstone dust, B is any opaque block, and A is air. If the redstone dust on top is powered by some means (I used an adjacent redstone torch), and a piston is placed in the bottom air block, then the piston will extend. From what I know of redstone mechanics, the piston should not be powered in this configuration; but even more strangely, if the redstone on top becomes unpowered, then the piston will remain extended until an adjacent block is updated (by placing a block next to it, e.g.) This bug will occur whether the piston is sticky or not, but will only occur if the piston is facing a horizontal direction and is placed after the redstone dust is powered. Also there can only be air between the piston and the block above, and the redstone dust can only be dust, not a torch, lever, or other redstone material. Anyway, this bug got in the way of one of my builds, so I thought it might be worth reporting...
 * This is quasi-connectivity, get used to it, as it is needed for bud switches. 00:58, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Sticky Piston
In the blocks section, there is a link to the "Sticky Piston" page. However, there is none and it gets redirected to the "Piston" page. That can cause confusion. I think that we should either remove the link, or create a sub-section in the "Piston" page, all about Sticky Pistons. Also, a clean-up should be made on the page in general. 19:02, 23 July 2012 (UTC)


 * If you mean the crafting grid, there isn't currently a way to remove a link from that. – (&#124;) at 19:49, 23 July 2012 (UTC)


 * No, ultradude, I mean the list at the bottom of the page, showing a list of all of the pages that concern blocks, opaque or not. 18:44, 25 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Ah ok, fixed. – (&#124;) at 19:19, 25 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks! 07:29, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Should pistons be able to move tile entities?
At the very least, be able to push dispensers. It would make arrow traps a hell of alot easier to hide, and the mechanism itself can be more rapidly firing and hidden. Also for hiding chests and furnaces would help, since instead of covering up chests in a house to hide them, why not have the chest be able to be pulled down and covered, allowing for convenient storage and sorting mechanisms. Feel free to add your ideas to the end of this page.

The Dec subcodes of 29 (sticky piston)
What's the idea behind the subcodes like :1...:9 for sticky piston, Dec code 29 ? In a Chest Shop it says "Sticky Piston Base" for 29 and doesn't let you sell the sticky pistons you made, but 29:7 does, and /give'ing 29:1 is different from /give'ing 29:3, for example. -- 16:27, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Video
What happened to the video here? -- 11:40, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * What video? -- 20:41, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * The videos by mcspotlights which are on virtually every page on the wiki. He has a piston video. -- 23:52, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Sticky Piston not pulling block
I've found out that there is a bug that makes Sticky Pistons don't retreat blocks. Can anyone find out the answer? 17:16, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Anvil movable when dropping?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVx8AwWdrXU This video features how to dispense anvils by pushing it with pistons. I thought anvils are immovable by pistons? What sorcery is this? Is anvil movable when dropping? 12:31, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Possible T.V.?
Would it be possible to make a sort of T.V. by making a sort of movie theater, using colored wool as pixels, and setting up a constant loop of removing wool from the "screen" and placing the next wool in line in? You could make a movie theater showing a comic strip, with many lines of wool, one for each pixel, and the line keeps on getting moved forward by normal pistons. Please respond. I have Pocket Edition, so I can't test it out, so if someone could please try it out, or tell me why it won't work. If it does work, spread the word!

New 14w18a slime block behaviour
We need to update this article for the new behaviour regarding slime blocks and pistons. I would but I don't have enough time right now. Panda has a video on all the different ways they interact and weather or not they extend. 21:58, 30 April 2014 (UTC)