How to Build Block Generators in Minecraft

In Minecraft there are a few blocks which can be generated infinitely and at quite a fast pace. This is very useful for when you need those blocks without having to travel at all. Each generator is very easy to build and requires little input from a player, but it’ll make for a great block farm.

Infinite Cobblestone Generator

As most of you will know, flowing lava will turn into cobblestone when it comes into contact with water. This means we can use a lava source block and a water source block to create infinite cobblestone. As you can see in the image below, we’ve created a small, 4×1 ditch. One spot is 2 blocks deep and everything else is 1 block deep. We’ve also added a 1 block hole on the side, which is where the player will stand for easy mining access.

For this farm to work you have to place the water on the side with the 2 block deep hole, which will cause the water to flow into that hole but no further. The lava will be placed on the other side, which will then flow towards the water and turn into cobblestone when it reaches the water. Note that it’s important to have at least 1 block of space between the lava spot and the 2 block deep part where the water flows into, this makes sure the lava can flow into the water and turn into cobblestone, instead of turning the lava source block into obsidian.

This is all there is to an infinite cobblestone generator, you simply mine the cobblestone, which will let the lava source block flow into the water again. Simply keep mining. This farm can be quite fast when you use any pick better than wood. The cobblestone generation rate will be almost instant with a stone or iron pickaxe, so you can almost keep your mouse down without having to wait for another cobblestone to be generated.

Infinite Stone Generator

Similar to how we make cobblestone with water flowing against flowing lava blocks, stone blocks can be generated by making lava flow on top of water. Stone generators are quite easy to build, but unless you also build an automatic lava releasing system, using the farm requires some caution.

For the stone generator we simply dig a 2×1 ditch in the ground, with 1 side being 2 blocks deep and the other side just 1 block deep. As with the cobblestone generator, the stone generator also has a 1 block hole in which the player can stand, but this will depend on your personal preferences.

We’ve also added an extra block against which we can place our lava. This lava will flow on top of the water, which we placed on the shallow side of the ditch. The lava will flow down slowly and turn the water into stone. Immediately after the water is turned into stone you’ll have to pick up the lava with a bucket again, unless you’ve built a lava releasing system with pistons.

If you don’t pick up the lava, it’ll spread to all sides of the generated stone block and potentially kill you and destroy the surrounding area.

A stone generator isn’t one of the most useful generators in minecraft, as it’s much faster to simply use the cobblestone generator and cook them in a furnace to turn them into stone. But a stone generator could be used for building purposes, by simply creating a longer row of flowing water and pouring lava on top of that.

Infinite Obsidian Generator

It’s possible to generate an infinite supply of obsidian, and although the farm below does require redstone, which technically isn’t infinite, obsidian is also generated when you enter a Nether portal that isn’t connected to another one in the opposite dimension.

First the obsidian generator. The setup is similar to our previous generators. We create a 3×1 ditch and make it 2 blocks deep in the middle. We place water on one side and make it flow into the 2 block deep hole.

As with the stone generated, an extra block is placed to place the lava against, which will flow down onto a piece of redstone wire. This redstone wire is very important and the reason why obsidian is generated. The redstone will be replaced with obsidian once the lava tries to flow onto it, which means you have to replace the redstone each time you mine an obsidian block. This farm could be considered a bug and Notch has said this might be fixed in the future when obsidian becomes more valuable, but for now it’ll stay in place.

As mentioned, obsidian is also generated when you enter a Nether portal which isn’t connected to another portal. This can be used to create an infinite supply of obsidian, but it does require the help of a friend.

This obsidian farm method is pretty straight forward. You and a friend create a Nether portal, one of you enters and waits in the Nether, while the other person destroys the portal you’ve created in the Overworld. Once your first portal is destroyed, you enter the portal in the Nether, which will generate a new Nether portal in the overworld, usually in the exact same spot as your old portal, though it may be on a slightly different place around it.

This method is quite a time consuming one, so it’s best to have a couple of friends mine the Nether portal to reduce the time you have to wait in the Nether.
Or you could use that time to tend to your Nether wart farm or other Nether activities.

Infinite Water Generator

Water is another block which can be generated infinitely and is probably the easiest to create. All you need is a 3x1x1 ditch and place water on each side. The water source blocks will flow towards the middle and they’ll turn into another water source block when both flows meet. You can then pick up that middle source block with a bucket, which will cause the water on the edges the flow towards the middle again and generate another water source block.