Sandustry Guide and Wiki

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Sandustry Drill: How to Unlock It and Why It Will Not Run

Search impressions show players are looking for the Drill before this site has a direct answer. This guide closes that gap using current publisher-hosted documentation. Community discussion is used only to show where Energy progression confuses players; it does not supply undocumented battery values or terrain guarantees.

Early Access · evidence boundary corrected 2026-09-05 · Checked 2026-09-05

Confirm that Factory Tier 5 is open

Drill is not an early substitute for the Shovel or Gun. The current official Research page lists it in Tier 5. If the whole Tier 5 group is locked, solve that progression state first; producing extra Gold does not bypass an unfinished factory-level objective or the anomaly-related state covered by the Tier 5 guide.

Once Tier 5 is visible, distinguish opening the tier from purchasing Drill. A visible research tile can still have dependencies and a Gold cost. Record what the interface says rather than relying on a video made before the current Early Access build.

Meet the documented prerequisites

The official Research page currently gives Drill a 2,500 Gold cost and states that Rocket Launcher and Florinol Battery are required to unlock it. Check that both researches are actually purchased, not merely available. If one dependency remains locked, follow its visible research path instead of searching for a hidden drill location.

The official Drill page independently confirms Tier 5 and the 2,500 Gold acquisition. That agreement between two publisher-hosted pages is the basis for this guide. It does not establish an undocumented shortcut, free pickup, puzzle reward, or alternate purchase route.

Supply Energy before testing terrain

The current Drill page describes the tool as electricity powered, and the current Research page says it requires Energy. Research separately identifies Florinol Battery as an Energy store and Copper Mold as the way to cast a Power Brick, so these current component entries provide the evidence basis.

Before aiming at hard material, confirm that your current setup has usable Energy and that the tool's energy state changes as expected. Community posts show players frequently confuse producing Energy, storing it, and having it available to a powered tool. Because official pages do not publish a universal per-second drain here, this guide does not invent one.

Run a clean excavation test

Choose a small, ordinary hard-material boundary away from a puzzle, valuable liquid, or the only route home. Capture the material name with the Grabber scanner when available. Hold the Drill on one point and watch for terrain damage and Energy change. Testing both signals separates an unpowered tool from a resistant target.

Do not begin on Limestone, Sandstone, puzzle borders, or another material that players report as difficult or indestructible. One failed target cannot establish that the Drill itself is broken. Repeat on a second documented hard material only after confirming the first test had power.

Understand the Bore Bit upgrade

The official Drill page lists Bore Bit as a Fluxite upgrade that increases terrain damage by one per level and currently shows two levels. The page does not publish complete costs, so this guide leaves those costs unspecified. Check the live upgrade interface for the current requirement.

Upgrade only after proving the base Drill receives Energy and deals visible damage. An upgrade cannot diagnose a disconnected or empty power state. Record the build and target material when comparing before/after behavior, because different terrain can make an informal timing test misleading.

Separate no power from no damage

No power: the tool does not consume or receive Energy and shows no excavation response. Recheck the energy store and current tool state. No damage: Energy behavior appears normal but the selected material never changes. Move to a known test boundary before concluding the target is intended to resist drilling.

Intermittent behavior: preserve the save state, repeat from a clean load, and note whether Energy reaches zero or the target changes after returning to the area. Avoid mods, debug modes, or save edits during this comparison. They make a useful bug report much harder to reproduce.

Do not assume Drill solves every puzzle

The current Drill and Research pages establish excavation and Energy requirements, not a universal puzzle role. Do not drill a room boundary merely because Drill is the newest tool in the tier. Record the room, current objective, permitted actions, and target material before attempting a destructive test.

If the Drill is disabled inside a room, do not immediately treat that as a global Drill malfunction. Use the room-solutions guide for matched current reports and return later when current official evidence and your inventory do not support a safe action.

Report a reproducible Drill problem

A useful report includes platform, exact build, Tier 5 state, purchased prerequisites, current Energy source, target material, Bore Bit level, expected action, actual action, and whether the same test survives reload. Add your own short capture if it shows the energy and terrain response together.

Do not claim a global Drill bug from an unnamed material or depleted power store. Conversely, if a clean powered test on an ordinary hard material repeatedly shows no damage on the current build, the report is specific enough for official support to investigate.

Sources and evidence notes

Frequently Asked Questions