Since there's an auto sugarcane tutorial, I thought I might show off the auto-melon design I've been using. The design is based off a similar low-resource design, but I've done my best to minimize the size. Currently, it's 1x3x8 space per melon (including blocks the bottom most layer of redstone is placed on), and stacks well both vertically and horizontally. Typically I'll put hoppers at the bottom of the water. One space gaps need to exist in between each of the machine's, else the slime blocks will cause problems. I would describe this design as high loss, but also high yield. I've not included the water in the build instructions, but I find what is shown above as the easiest means to hydrate all plants if vertically stacked. ------------------------------------------------------------- Block materials per machine 1 Sticky Piston 1 Slime Block 1 Observer 2 Redstone 1 Repeater Raw materials per machine 10 Slime 1 Iron 8 Redstone 10 Cobble 3 Natural Stone 1 Nether Quartz 3 Planks 2 Sticks Obviously, the most expensive part of this build is the slime, as there's currently no way to get it other than from the store. ------------------------------------------------------------- Layer 1 As you can see, the first layer is rather simple. I haven't included the cobblestone block in the list of building materials because any block can be used. The repeater must be pointing at that block, and must be given one right click once placed. Layer 2 This step is where the bulk of the materials are. I've found it easiest to place the piston first, facing the raised redstone on the same height from the last step. The piston can be placed easily if one right clicks the 'side' of the redstone facing the player when standing where the slime block goes. I do the observer next, and typically have a block placed in front of where it belongs to easily place it. Thus far, I've found no way to place it properly without this extra block. Lastly, put the slime block in between, and break the block in front of the observer. When you break that block, it should move and then go back into place if made properly. The melon plants As you can see, the melon plants go on the blocks in between the machines. This gives each block two stems per. I personally put glowstone underneath each layer of dirt when stacking the machines vertically, insuring the plants have sufficient light. But as long as some method of lighting the area sufficiently is done, that particular method is not necessary. Front facing extra This step isn't necessary, but none the less I chose to include it. If building, it may be tempting to put blocks in between each observer. Note that it must be a block that is not effected by the movement of slime blocks. Furnaces are my block of choice for this, as they aren't expensive to make (8 cobble per, something I find myself with great excess of). ------------------------------------------------------------- Well, that's it. I don't find it to be a terribly complicated build and hope others find it useful!
I wouldn't say it is particularly bad, but I am using a far better design which involves a flying machine to collect 5-6 lines of up to 1024 blocks of melons each. It uses far less resources than this design would as it is just a single unit and a expanadble melon farm. (1024 cap due to chunk loading in pf being 4 chunks. 1+4×2=9, might just be 4×2=8 or 4+4-1=7 though.)
