Core Keeper Drill Guide

#Direct Answer

Place a Crude Drill or Drill facing an ore boulder, connect it to an Electricity Generator with a continuous powered connection, and leave room to collect the mined ore. Crude Drill is the earlier option available through tin-tier crafting; the later Drill belongs to scarlet-tier automation. You do not need Scarlet Bars merely to start mining an early boulder.

A release-era tin-drilling discussion distinguishes the two machines and their output speeds. Its old rates are not used here as current guarantees. This guide covers a functioning rig first; the boulder removal guide covers what to do when clearing the occupied floor is the actual goal.

#Build The Correct Station Chain

Use the individual Crude Drill, Drill, and Electronics Table references as machine lookups. Read exact counts in your installed crafting menu before allocating bars. This rewrite does not claim that the legacy Drill recipe counts were freshly verified.

The official 0.6.0 crafting changes moved the Electronics Table to the Copper Workbench and the Automation Table to the Tin Workbench. That station access is distinct from affording a later machine's recipe; do not postpone all electrical crafting until scarlet.

#Make One Machine Work Before Expanding

1. Choose a reachable boulder whose ore you still need. Keep the rig off Ghorm's patrol path.
2. Clear surrounding walls and floor clutter without removing the working surface for the machine and your approach.
3. Place one drill with its drilling end directly against the boulder's face. Check its facing before building the power line.
4. Place a generator and run electrical wire to the drill. Use a simple continuous route without switches for the first check.
5. Wait for an output cycle and inspect behind the drill for loose ore. A Crude Drill is slow; a few seconds without ore does not prove a failure.
6. Collect manually until both mining and your return route work. Add routing only when there is ore to route.

An editor-made orientation sketch, not a screenshot or a timed test:

[boulder face] <- [drilling end | Drill | output side] -> loose ore
                                  |
                           electrical wire
                                  |
                              Generator

The sketch shows direction and power conceptually, not tile dimensions. If the drill faces away from the boulder, adding more wire or more drills will not correct the first machine's orientation.

#Collection Is A Separate System

The drill produces items; it does not put them directly into a chest. For a small early rig, return and pick up the output manually. Later, direct conveyor belts toward a collection point and use a correctly oriented Robot Arm to transfer items into storage or the appropriate smelting input.

The Robot Arm reference describes that transfer role. Prove one input-to-output transfer before routing ore across the whole map. If loose ore accumulates behind the drill, mining works and the collection route is the problem.

#How Many Drills Should You Add?

A standard boulder allows drills around its faces, up to eight in a two-per-side layout. More machines increase production, with diminishing returns; do not assume eight drills produce eight times one drill's output. Mixed tiers and version changes make old output tables particularly easy to misuse.

Start with one if the goal is proving the system. Add more when the boulder is useful, access is safe, and the material cost does not block your next station. If your immediate goal is removing the boulder, more working drills can reduce the wait, but depletion still takes time and is not a pickup action.

#Diagnose Mining And Collection Separately

The official 1.3.0.4 hotfix fixed drills, spike traps, and certain hazards not dealing damage. This is a specific historical bug check, not the explanation for every slow rig.

#FAQ

#Does the generator need fuel?

The standard Electricity Generator supplies power without a consumable fuel loop. Do not add a fuel system to solve a wire connection problem.

#Will one boulder supply ore forever?

No. Drilling depletes it. Mark another useful boulder and move the equipment when the current target is exhausted.

#Must I build conveyors for the first rig?

No. Manual collection is enough to verify mining. Automatic storage adds its own crafting and direction checks.

#Sources And Review Notes

The official hotfix is the source for the damage regression. The linked player discussion supports distinguishing early and later drill tiers; community machine pages are further recipe references. Station counts, current ore-per-minute output, and off-screen behavior were not freshly measured. Layout and troubleshooting priorities are editorial guidance, reviewed November 10, 2026.

#Related Guides

• Remove an ore boulder
• Find tin for early machines
• Get scarlet for later automation