Hacks for Minecrafters: Redstone

What’s more fun than blowing stuff up with TNT? Blowing stuff up with a TNT cannon! This is a classic Minecraft cannon, with some extra blocks to make it look a bit more like an actual old-timey weapon.

When you are working with TNT and redstone, always wait till the very end before you place the TNT. It is very easy to set off TNT accidentally when you are playing around with redstone connected to it!

What You Need:

26 spruce wood planks

8 (4x2) spruce wood steps

2 spruce wood fences

3 stone blocks

1 stone button

56 coal blocks

18 redstone dust

4 repeaters

7 TNT (for each cannon shot!)

1 bucket of water

1. Build your cannon’s base, or carriage, out of 18 spruce wood planks. First, place two rows of 3 planks. On top of this bottom level, place three rows of 3 planks. This level should be offset from the bottom level by 1 block. Above the middle row of this level, build just one row of 3 planks.

2. Add the bottom of the cannon. Make a 3-block wide and 9-block long rectangle of coal blocks.

3. Add the sides, front, and back of the cannon. Add a 1-block coal block row to the two sides of the cannon, and 1 block at either end, between the two long rows.

4. Add the axle for the wheels. Underneath the cannon, next to the spruce wood base, place one row, 3 blocks long, of stone blocks.

5. Increase the size of the cannon’s base. Add a 2-block wide, 3-block long row of coal blocks next to the axle, to make the cannon’s base, or breech, look a little bigger than the muzzle of the cannon.

6. On each end of the axle, build out large wheels for the carriage. First, build a cross shape, with a space in the center, of spruce wood blocks.

7. Add spruce wood stairs to round out the wheels. Add a spruce wood fence in the center of each wheel.

8. At the back, or breech, of the cannon, place 1 coal block, 1 block in from the sides and 1 block above.

9. Right underneath the block you placed in step 8, use your water bucket to place a water source block. The water should run 8 blocks, from here just to the front of the cannon.

10. On one side of the cannon, place 8 redstone dust in a line, starting from the backmost block. At the cannon’s muzzle, there should be 1 block without redstone.

11. On the other side of the cannon, starting from the backmost block, place a line of 2 redstone dust, followed by 4 repeaters that point toward the muzzle. Right-click each of the repeaters 3 times to give them each the maximum 4-tick delay.

12. We’re now going to continue this side’s redstone signal with redstone dust, but also raise it up 1 block. This way the signal can reach the TNT that we’ll be placing in the muzzle. Add 2 coal blocks to the very end of the side we are working on. Use 3 redstone dust to run the signal from the repeaters to the muzzle.

13. Place 1 redstone dust at the back of the cannon to join the two sides of dust. Place another 4 redstone dust to bring the redstone signal down to one side of the carriage.

14. On the same side of the carriage, place the button you’ll use to set the cannon off.

15. Place 1 block of TNT at the very end of the cannon at the muzzle, on top of the last coal block. This is the TNT that will be burst from the cannon.

16. Place 6 TNT in the center water channel. (The water will look like it’s disappearing; that is fine.) Be careful not to place TNT under the raised block at the back of the cannon, where you placed the water source. If you do, the water will disappear, and you’ll need to replace it. The raised block is there to help remind you!

17. Press the button and stand back!! Enjoy watching the first 6 TNT build up power to blast the last one off before it explodes itself.

When you press the button, the redstone signal is carried on one side of the cannon to all six of the TNT in the water channel. The water will prevent the TNT from causing damage to any blocks, but it will set off and propel the TNT on the very end. On the other side of the cannon, the signal travels to the seventh TNT. It is delayed by the repeaters so that it doesn’t explode before the six TNT in the water. It will explode after it has been hurled from the cannon. Sometimes it may go a little farther than other times, and sometimes it can explode in the air.