Sandustry Kinetic Slag Press

The Kinetic Slag Press is the only machine that processes Burnt Slag. Refining 2 unlocks it. You do not belt slag into a box and wait — you drop Burnt Slag onto the press from a great height. Each successful hit converts one Burnt Slag into one Gold and one Spore. That pairing is why slag is never trash: the press reprints gold and feeds the botanical loop that eventually becomes Fluxite (Spores and Seeds, How to Get Fluxite).

This page is the building reference. For the full burn → press factory story, keep Slag Processing open.

Unlock and placement rules

Rule	Why it matters
Refining 2	Unlocks the press; skip it and slag is only clutter
Drop from height	The press is kinetic — a gentle side feed misses
One particle at a time	A second pixel landing during the process window does not count and starts a clog
Burnt Slag only	Raw Slag, Sand, or water in the chute wastes the hit
Clearance below	Gold and Spores must fall; if the output pile reaches the press underside, new hits fail
No liquids at the bottom	Water or lava under the press breaks the conversion

Community density for Burnt Slag sits around 50 on wiki charts — useful when you set Filters to allow only Burnt Slag above the drop (Filters).

Sandustry beginner guide covering slag burn and press setup

Input: burn first, then drop

Slag from diagonal Shakers must become Burnt Slag before the press. Burning with a Flamethrower (Tools 1) converts roughly 20–25% of the slag mass into Burnt Slag in community tests — the rest is consumed by the fire. Lava pits (cinder-filled filters you ignite) automate the same conversion without standing there with a hose (Lava, Scoria, and Cinder). Rocket napalm upgrades can also ignite piles.

A practical chute:

1. Filter Slag into a burn hall.
2. Second filter Burnt Slag only into a two-block-high conveyor so you do not dump a column.
3. Spray onto a lift or staircase so particles lose horizontal speed, then fall the required height onto the press face.
4. Catch Gold in a Collector and Spores on a side belt toward planters.

Throughput patterns that actually work

Single press, filtered drip. One press, a filter roof that only admits Burnt Slag, and a catch floor at least three tiles below. Spores can stack about three blocks high at max throughput — if the catch is too close, spores jam the underside.

Three presses, split roof. A sloped splitter sends half the stream left and half right across three presses. A bottom launcher recircs leftovers. This is the layout players use when one press cannot eat a full shaker bank.

Do not let mixed belts (wet sand, unburned slag, flowers) share the drop. One wrong pixel during the tiny process window is how “the press stopped working” reports start.

Outputs: Gold and Spores

Gold merges with shaker gold for Research. Route it into a Collector so the wallet actually increments — gold sitting on dirt does not always count (Collectors and Lights).

Spores are the sleeper output. Wet them, park Wet Spores in Planter Boxes, and you get Flowers that drop Amethelis (Flowers and Planters). Factories that bin spores as junk rebuild the botanical wing from scratch later. Give spores their own filter: they behave like a light solid and will pile if you only designed for gold nuggets.

Failure modes

• Missed particles building a cap on the press. Too many simultaneous hits, or foreign pixels. Throttle the inlet to two-block height and add an allow-only Burnt Slag filter.
• Output filled up to the press. Empty gold/spore pits; add launchers out.
• Liquid at the bottom. Dry the pit; never vent steam rain onto the press hall (Water Management).
• Unburned slag in the chute. Lengthen the burn lane or add a lava bed before the drop.
• Starved press. Your bottleneck is mining or wetting, not Refining 2 — go back to How to Get Gold.

Research timing

Most runs buy Refining 1 and Logistics 1 first, then Tools 1 (Flamethrower) with Refining 2. A press without a burn method is a sculpture. A flamethrower without a press just deletes slag. See Research Priority and tick the nodes on Research Checklist.

Layout sketch (compact)

Shaker bank → slag belt → burn trench (flame or lava) → Burnt Slag filter → vertical drop ≥ required height → press row → gold collector + spore overflow toward planters. Keep this wing away from flower Moss so embers from slag fire do not delete your farm (Demo Patches notes embers igniting moss and flowers).

Early Access notes

The press exists in the demo for many players and is a pillar of the Early Access mid-game after 2026-08-13. Exact drop height and hitboxes can shift in patches — if a layout from an old video clogs, rebuild the filter roof before tearing down the shakers. Pair press count with slag volume using Production Ratio Helper.

Related

• Slag Processing — Factory-level burn and belt story.
• Gold and Slag — Particle identities.
• Shaker — Where slag is born.
• Spores and Seeds — What to do with the other output.

If shakers print research money, the Kinetic Slag Press prints the second paycheck and the seed of your Fluxite wing. Treat the drop like a machine, not a hole in the floor.