Tutorials/Item transportation

Item transportation is the automatic movement of items from one location to another. Item transportation is used frequently in combination with storage systems and item sorters.

Horizontal transportation
Often, items need to be transported from one point to another. The easiest ways to do this are hopper lines and water streams.

Hopper lines
By placing a line of hoppers all pointing into each other, items can be transported at a rate of 2.5 ips. This method is among the simplest to create, but is also somewhat iron intensive at 5 ingots a hopper.

On large scale, hoppers have been known to create lag. To remedy this, some players place containers, such as droppers, on top of each hopper. This is to prevent the hoppers from trying to pick up items floating above them.

Water streams
A less iron intensive method is the use of water streams. This uses the mechanic of dropped items moving in flowing water streams.

Since water can only flow 7 blocks from the source, it is usually necessary to use multiple water sources. To handle the breaks, a packed ice block and sign can be used. When the items come out of one stream, they will slide across the ice to the next. The sign is necessary to prevent the second stream from flowing backwards.

Vertical transportation
When items are transported upwards, the mechanism is usually called an item elevator. These can be useful when it is necessary to move items from underground. Items can either be transported with containers, such as droppers, or in item form, such as through water.

Bubble elevator
Using soul sand and bubble columns, it is possible to transport items upward very quickly. To build one, just create an enclosed column of water sources and place soul sand at the bottom. It is possible to create this without soul sand, however it will be much slower.

Items can be put into the elevator either from another water stream or from a dropper. If using a dropper, items can be inputed from the side using a clock circuit to dispense the items.

Dropper elevator

 * See also: Ultimate Guide to Reliable Dropper Towers

Dropper elevators usually work by having a line of droppers pointing upwards. When the droppers are powered, items can travel upwards. The video demonstrates two of these designs. Note that the third design in the video is an outdated block elevator and may not work.

Block elevator
When items are glitched into blocks with a dropper, they will float upwards until they get out of the blocks. The video demonstrates a design that uses this technique. Note that the second design is for a fast, silent dropper elevator and not a block elevator.

de::technik:Drop-Aufzug 教程/物品电梯