Crafting & machines · Machine
Metal mill
The workshop's first machine: it rolls ingots into sheets, draws copper wire, bends pipes and sheathes cables and optical fibres.
In the game
How to get it
At the grid: 4 iron ingots round 2 cogwheels and a hide (its belt), on a bottom row of 3 rock. Place it, right-click it, pick a product and put the ingot in: it runs by itself, four times faster on a powered small power cable (3 kW).
What it is for
Every semi-finished metal part: iron, copper, aluminium and titanium sheets, steel plates, copper wire, small and large pipes, small and large power cables, signal cables, mono and octo optical fibres.
Why it exists
An ingot is raw metal; a machine is made of sheets, wire and pipes. The mill is the bridge between the Furnace and everything industrial, and the first machine worth powering.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
The metal mill turns the Furnace's ingots into the parts every machine is built from. It needs no fire: a flywheel keeps its rolls turning, and a powered cable makes it four times faster.
How to make it
At the crafting grid: 4 iron ingots on both sides of the two top rows, 2 cogwheels in the top middle, a hide (leather or fur: the belt) in the centre, and 3 rock of any kind across the bottom row. You get one mill.
Using it
- Place it, right-click it and pick what it makes in its screen.
- Put the ingot, sheet, wire or silicon in the first slot; bolts or the insulation go in the second.
- It works alone, even when you walk away. Plug a powered small power cable (3 kW) and it runs four times faster.
What it makes
| Product | Takes | Gives | Time (by hand) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheets | 1 iron, copper, aluminium or titanium ingot | 2 sheets (a steel ingot: 1 steel plate) | 4 s |
| Copper wire | 1 copper ingot | 8 copper wires | 3 s |
| Small pipe | 1 iron or copper sheet | 4 small pipes | 3 s |
| Large pipe | 4 steel plates + 2 bolts | 2 large pipes | 6 s |
| Small power cable | 4 copper wires + 1 insulation | 8 cables | 4 s |
| Large power cable | 8 copper wires + 2 plastic or tar | 4 cables | 6 s |
| Signal cable | 2 copper wires + 1 insulation | 8 cables | 3 s |
| Mono fibre | 1 silicon + 1 plastic | 4 fibres | 4 s |
| Octo fibre | 4 silicon + 2 plastic | 4 fibres | 6 s |
Insulation is any of: leather, fur, wool, a fabric, plastic or tar.
Why it exists
Real workshops roll, draw and sheathe metal before they build anything; the game keeps that one step and only one wire, copper, so every recipe stays easy to remember.
Tips
- Powering the mill is the best first use of a Generator or a Solar panel.
- Steel gives one plate per ingot, not two: plates are thick.
- The large power cable needs plastic or tar: tar comes early from bitumen seeps, plastic from the Refinery.
On the progress path
AT1The workshopMain path
- This stepAT1 · Metal mill
- NextAT2 · Sheets and copper wire
Related
Guide pages about it
- Crafting & machinesSmeltingSmelt ore in Openworld: build the Furnace, feed it ore, coal and fuel, and get iron, steel, copper, gold, titanium,…
- Crafting & machinesMachinesAll the machines of Openworld in progression order: campfire, Furnace, metal mill, loom, sewing machine, generator,…
- TechnologyPowerHow power works in Openworld: generators, solar panels, wind turbines, lithium batteries, the small and large power…
- TechnologyPipes and conveyorsHow to move items, liquids, gases and rotation in Openworld: conveyor speeds, the small and large pipes, gravity and…