After going through a few different versions I've come up with the most efficient, simple, and quickest obsidian generator I've seen. The design can be scaled to be as large or as small as you need. This tutorial is for a generator that produces 48 obsidian per run. Required materials: 194 non-flammable blocks (no wood or wool). 16 pistons 31 redstone 2 redstone repeaters 1 switch 16 buckets of lava 10 buckets of water Optional materials: 255 blocks for a floor. Instructions: 1) Dig a 15x17 hole 1 block deep and fill it in with your floor blocks. 2) Create a 2 block high wall all the way around the floor area, 1 block in from the edge (11x15). Leave a 3 wide opening on one of the narrow ends. 3) Lay a row of blocks down the inside of each of the long sides. 4) Dig 5 trenches on each side that are 3 block long and 1 block deep. The first trench will be against the wall with 2 spaces between each trench after. 5) Add a 13 long row of blocks along each side that's 2 higher than the wall (4 high total) that goes across the first block of the trenches. Add a step down to the top of the wall on each side 6) Place 8 pistons on the bottom side of each of the rows of blocks just added. The pistons will face straight down and will be in between the trenches.
7) Place redstone on top of the row of blocks, above the pistons. Bring it down the step on the back side and across the top of the back wall so that both strings of redstone are connected. Place a repeater near the middle of each row to extend the signal - it should be facing the front of the generator (where the opening in the wall is). Place a switch in the center of the back wall on the top block. 8) Place a water source block in the center of each trench, 1 block above the trench. For the 4 trenches that are against the walls just place the water on the wall. For the ones in the middle place a block on the ground, dump the water against the block, then remove the block. The water will flow straight down into the trench. 9) Place a row of blocks above each of the trenches of water that is level with the top of the wall (two blocks off of the ground). It should cover the 3 trench blocks plus go back 1 more to connect to the wall. 10) Flip the switch to power the pistons. Dump a bucket of lava behind each of the pistons - there should be 4, 2 wide rows of lava on each side. That's it! It's ready to generate obsidian! To use it, place 6 pieces of redstone between each of the water trenches. It's important that you place redstone between every trench whether you want that much obsidian or not. If you don't place the redstone the lava will break the generator. Once the redstone is in place pull the lever. The lava will flow out and replace the redstone with obsidian. Once the obsidian is created flip the switch again to block the lava. You will probably have to place blocks on some of the obsidian to get rid of all of the lava. Now get out that diamond pick and spend the next 20 minutes breaking the obsidian blocks! Or, donate to the server and get a super pick.
Awesome tutorial 10/10 , just FYI you can easily host images locally on the forum, as these seemed to load slowly for me but it might be the file size
I hate this design. Most of the obsidian is dropped into the water. When the lava flows, it sometimes eats the redstone and drops lava causing you to fill the area with sand/dirt. Straight lines work much better, just throw the pistones above a 1 high block with a space better and water behind the block. Never clogs, breaks, or glitches. Every obsidian block can be obtained without ever being stuck at any part of the farm on fall.
If you stay close to the obsidian you usually don't lose any to the water. Other than the occasional lost block in the water I've never had a problem with this design (such as laval overflow or lost redstone) and have probably used it 30+ times. That being said, the design that someone made for Jesse blew my mind (can't remember who it was - scott or something?). I copied it for myself but made it half as long and rewired it. He should post a tutorial for it.
