Tutorials/Cobblestone farming/Basic CSGs

Notes about the schematics here: Gold blocks indicate "any (suitable) block". For a cobblestone generator, "suitable" probably means "fireproof". Water and lava source blocks may be marked with "s" when there is possible confusion. Cobblestone or smooth stone appear only where they form. An "x" indicates a place to stand while mining the cobblestone.

Basic Generators
For the basic trench generators, you should place the water first, because if the lava flows before the water reaches it, it may "resist" the water and not form cobblestone. Of course, if you place them both fast enough, the lava won't have time to flow anyway.

Design A is most basic of all, design B (from this video) is slightly more compact (and safer). However, both will lose some cobble to the lava. Design C (from this video) will wash the mined cobblestone towards the player, so as to minimize loss. When building design C, you can leave a block where the cobblestone will form, and mine it to start the process.

Fountain Generator
Design D is a more complex construction, which begins with an 8&times;5 wall with a 4&times;4 pool at the base. It uses a total of 80 blocks, 4 buckets of water, and 2 buckets of lava. The obsidian is optional, but using obsidian instead of other blocks helps prevent accidentally mining through the back wall. Place the water after building, and the lava last of all. (For the adventurous, a fair bit of the back wall could be removed after building the other blocks off it.) The building and use of this design is demonstrated in this video. The finished design will produce two blocks of cobblestone at a time, and when mined, those will fall into the water and be washed towards the player.

"From Below" generator
This design is in fact a midsize building, 9&times;7&times;7 or so, with the generator proper on the roof. You mine from within, facing a current held back by slabs. As with any building, unless you're in Peaceful difficulty or Creative mode, you'll want to secure it against monsters, perhaps by fencing or glassing in the sides. (This will also help in case of a major lava spill.)

Both dirt and cobblestone represent temporary blocks you'll need for assembly, and the smooth stone is (bottom) slabs. It's best to start by making the pillars and roof, then run the ladder up and work above and below the roof. Place the water behind the blocks and cover it with the slabs. When everything else is ready, place the lava, then once it has flowed down to the ladders, unblock the water. Last of all, go downstairs and mine the other three temporary blocks. They should be replaced by a gush of water, then new cobblestone. The obsidian is again optional, but helpful: accidentally mining the blocks behind the lava will produce a major mess.

This design is based on [this video, but with the front room slightly abbreviated.