materials
Sandustry Gold Output, Smelter and Collection Guide
A stopped Gold line can be diagnosed without guessing heat values or copying a layout. The current official Gold and Smelter pages establish the input, heat contact, output state, and Collector requirement; this guide turns those facts into a small, reversible check before returning to collection capacity, overflow, and measured expansion.
Early Access · Gold and Smelter conditions checked 2026-09-03 · Checked 2026-09-03
Check the two Smelter contacts
The current official Smelter page states that both conditions must be true together: Gold touches the top of the Smelter, and either a hot Thermal Buffer or Lava touches another side. Freeze the feed and inspect those two interfaces before rebuilding. This page does not infer a heat duration, buffer capacity, or preferred geometry because the reviewed official sources do not publish those values.
Confirm Liquid Gold can leave
When both operating conditions hold, the Smelter converts Gold pixels into Liquid Gold pixels. Keep empty, contained space for that liquid below or beside the tested output path, and prevent incoming solid Gold from hiding the heat interface. Restart with a small batch so you can see whether conversion occurs and whether the output remains contained.
Build a dedicated collection path
Route the valuable output away from raw feed, Wet Sand, water, and byproduct. Avoid hidden shelves and crossovers where a few pixels can settle outside the capture area. Keep the path visible from the normal walkway. A collection route should be understandable without opening walls or remembering what a shared box currently contains.
Mark normal and full states
A collector needs a normal operating line, warning line, and a known full response. Watch what happens upstream as each line is reached. If output backs into the machine before the warning is visible, move the marker or add a buffer. Capacity that cannot be inspected is not useful diagnostic capacity.
Test a full collector safely
Use a limited input batch and allow the destination to approach full while watching the machine output and byproduct route. Stop supply before material escapes containment. Confirm that clearing collection restores flow without excavating the processor. If it does not, the backup may have buried another interface and the recovery path needs access.
Keep byproduct independent
A separate byproduct route prevents a low-value output from occupying Gold capacity or covering the valuable exit. Give it its own full-line marker and overflow. Preserve uncertain material for isolated tests rather than returning it to the feed. A shared destination makes both production rates and recovery evidence unreliable.
Measure accepted collection
Time the amount that actually reaches the usable collector, not the amount that appears at the machine for a moment. Repeat after clearing buffers and use the slower sustained result in the planner. This captures losses from geometry and transport without claiming the observed rate is an official machine specification.
Protect value during recovery
When a blockage occurs, stop input and create a clean temporary destination before digging. Quarantine mixed recovery material. Do not open the lowest wall beneath a full store without safe capacity below. After clearing, restart with a tiny batch and confirm the valuable output follows the original route.
Scale collection with processing
When processing expands, check whether collection, transport, or byproduct becomes the next limit. Add capacity to the constrained interface rather than enlarging every box. Keep branch isolation so one full collector does not stop all modules. Recheck measurements after any route or geometry change.
Reconcile produced and usable output
At the end of a measured run, compare the Gold observed leaving processing with Gold that actually reached the intended collector, plus any amount waiting in transport or quarantine. The totals do not need to establish an official ratio; they reveal whether the collection path loses, delays, or mixes value. Repeat after a clean start and after the collector approaches its warning line. If the gap grows, inspect shelves, catch zones, backflow, and byproduct boundaries before increasing feed. Record only usable collected output in planning calculations. This prevents a machine that visibly emits material from being treated as productive while much of that value remains inaccessible or blocks the next batch.
Sources and evidence notes
- Gold — Sandustry Official Wiki ↗
Tier 1 · Publisher-hosted Early Access material page. Current Gold sources, Collector requirement, and Liquid Gold collection behavior
- Smelter — Sandustry Official Wiki ↗
Tier 1 · Publisher-hosted Early Access building page. Current Smelter inputs and the simultaneous top-contact and side-heat operating conditions
- Sandustry Steam discussions ↗
Tier 4 · Mixed Early Access community reports. Recurring questions and candidate failure modes only, including current Aura saturation, Steam Dryer, Red Sand automation, co-op, puzzle, Water, and late-game performance topics