I am a Genius! Hidden/Secret Mine Shaft Entrance

Idea: Want to make a mineshaft under my house.

Problem: Want to make the entrance look inconspicuous (despite it's single player) and not stand out when not in use and the switch is removed.

Solution: Use sticky pistons to push and pull the block and a piston to push the block up. Use a NOT gate (red stone torch).

Problem: How to get down without breaking neck, and able to get back up.

Solution: Water Elevator! Ladders will only prevent blocks from being moved or get detached from the wall.

Problem: Water will disappear if there is a solid block on the source water block.

Solution: Put the source block one block away from the path of the solid block and sticky piston. Place it under a block and to the side.

The Planning

I made a rough copy of the house (The floor, 1/4 of the wall high, about half wall width, almost 2/3 wall depth, the door, and some grass adjacent to the floor.) I wanted to place the entrance in a corner as a hole.

• Front View
• Left Side View
• Top View

The Construction

Redstone is about equal to electrical wiring, with a slight difference and complication.

This was a bit tricky to do. When I was taking a class about, by my surprise, electrical wiring in high school, I remember it was best to make a rough plan and then simplify it or make any adjustments. It was basically like Algebra, simplifying equations. (I couldn't really get it in the class because... I didn't really understand it and/or felt rushed. It was on my path of finding my thing to do in life, and this wasn't one of them.)

So given the circumstances, I knew I would need sticky pistons. One for the block to move down, one to move the sticky piston out of the way, and one to move the block again to the side (a sticky piston being moved by another doesn't transfer the block that is sticking to.) So I would need three sticky pistons.

Also used a redstone torch (which is always on unless power is transferred turning it off, or a NOT gate as they call it), a redstone repeater, and about 10 redstone dust for wires (1 block = 1 redstone wire).

The challenge was making it completely hidden and not stick out. Eventually came with a solution, after many trials and errors; put it two blocks below the base level (i.e. the floor) and extend it outside. At first the switch was placed on the floor, just to get the construction started. I didn't want the switch to be on the floor though, wanted it more like on the wall, which was something to worry about after I got it done then make any changes.

The water was a bit of a challenge though. The best place to put the source block of water would be under the wall, to the side of where the block that the sticky pistons would be pushing to the side and up would be.

The Finished Project

In Off State 1, In Off State 2
In On State 1, In On State 2

I can't express how proud I felt when I finished it.

This is the power switch, on the off state. You have to experiment with redstone circuitry a bit to understand how it works in minecraft.

I placed the switch on the side of a wall block, planks, that is right above the wire. It runs to another wall block over, going down a block, and link up with a redstone torch that is on the side of a grass/dirt block. When an active wire reaches a redstone torch, the torch goes off, turning off any circuits connected to the torch only are also off.

The redstone repeater, I soon found, was needed. The two sticky pistons that are going to push/pull a block and a sticky piston to the side need a delay before moving those blocks, other wise the sticky piston that will be moving the block up and down won't move to the side. A block needs to be in an unactive, nonmoving state in order to be moved.

The trick with water is that in order for it to flow straight down in one block only, you need to block and prevent it from spreading it. From the source block, it will spread in any direction that isn't blocking the way or to the nearest edge (if not all flat). In order for this to work, I had to remove a block that would've been on the same level as the circuitry. Water will cause all redstone wiring to be detached from the ground and float on the ground as an item ready to be picked up. Also need to stop the water, after going from the source by a block, spread further and cause a mess. (There are exceptions though, however, on that logic.)

It was a really well done accomplishment on my part.

I have not yet started on the mining... but was glad to get that finished. As for the mining shaft, on every new floor I'll be making, I'll place one block on any corner of the water trail to prevent it from spreading and be a hassle in the operations. When making a new floor, I'll remove those blocks and replace them as the water will continue to go down till it hits a surface. May have to make multiple water elevators if they are too long and may risk drowning. Depending on how high each floor is and how many floors are made. Also keep in mind of water resistance when swimming up, slowing one down.