Quick answer: Get a steady Sand + Water supply, unlock the Shaker, keep its two outputs clear, and only then scale the line. A stopped output can back up the whole factory.
The Sandustry factory loop
Sandustry turns a falling-sand simulation into an automation game. Materials are not abstract items in slots: they are pixels that fall, pile up, react, block passages, and move through machines. That makes flow control the foundation of every successful build.
Your early loop is:
- Excavate Sand and open enough room for a controlled route.
- Supply Water and produce Wet Sand.
- Feed Wet Sand across a Shaker.
- Collect the Gold that falls through the machine.
- Carry Slag away from the end of the line.
- Spend research to improve refining, transport, and sorting.
A practical first-hour order
1. Build for gravity
Before placing machines, look at where loose material will fall. Leave a collection space below the intended Gold output and a separate route beyond the Shaker for Slag. A compact build is useful only when both output paths remain accessible.
2. Stabilize Wet Sand
Do not scale the refining line while the input arrives in bursts. First make sure Sand and Water can meet without flooding the work area or exhausting the local Water source. A small, observable line is easier to repair than a large buried one.
3. Unlock Refining first
The official research table lists Refining 1 at 20 research points, unlocking the Shaker. That machine converts each Wet Sand pixel into Slag and has a 25% chance to produce a Gold pixel. Gold falls through the Shaker while Slag continues over it.
4. Add logistics after the process works
The official table lists Logistics 1 at 50 points. Conveyors move solid pixels, but they do not make a blocked destination disappear. Keep the route short, visible, and reversible while testing it.
5. Add sorting when streams become mixed
Filters 1 costs 100 points on the official research table. A Filter sends configured pixels through itself while behaving like a normal conveyor for other solids. It is most valuable after the production line already has dependable input and output.
Which guide should you open next?
| Your current problem | Best next guide |
|---|---|
| Belts stop or piles form | Automation Guide |
| Gold and Slag are not separating cleanly | Processing Plant Guide |
| You do not know what to research | Continue with the order below |
| You need exact machine data | Use the official wiki links in Sources |
Early research priorities
Use this as a decision order, not a rigid speedrun:
- Refining 1: required for the first meaningful Gold line.
- Logistics 1: useful when gravity alone cannot carry material to the next stage.
- Filters 1: useful once two materials share a transport route.
- Pipes and fluid systems: important when the Water source and processing line can no longer sit next to each other.
- Tools and drones: expansion systems; solve the current factory bottleneck before investing around them.
Five rules that prevent most early failures
- Keep every output visible until the line runs reliably.
- Test one Shaker before copying the design.
- Provide overflow space for Slag.
- Avoid funneling every material into one narrow tile.
- Diagnose from the final output backward: storage, transport, machine, then input.
Verified sources
Facts on this page were checked on August 16, 2026 against:
This independent guide explains strategy in original wording. For patch-sensitive values, prefer the official sources above.