Quarry

The Quarry is a machine added by BuildCraft. It allows for unmanned mining of a large area. The Quarry can be powered in many different ways.

Starting a Quarry
The default frame of the Quarry will occupy an area of 11x11x5, and excavate a 9x9 area of land. These dimensions can be increased, up to 64x64. To adjust the size of the Quarry, three Landmarks will need to be placed in a square or rectangular pattern, then activated by right clicking one of them. Note that powering a Landmark with a redstone signal will emit a beam that will travel to the extent of where the following Landmark can be placed, 64 blocks, in all directions. The Quarry will then need to be placed next to one of the Landmarks. A black and yellow line will appear when the Quarry is placed. The line is where the frame will be built.

Upon starting, the Quarry will clear the area within the black and yellow bars and build a frame. Once the frame is complete, it will spawn a crane-like structure that will begin to mine the area one block at a time. These blocks will be deposited into any adjacent chest or pipe. If there is no chest or pipe, the mined items will be ejected from the top of the Quarry. There is no need for a Wooden Pipe to fetch the items; the Quarry will place the items into a connected Stone Pipe, Cobblestone Pipe, Gold Pipe, Iron Pipe, or Diamond Pipe.

In the event the quarry encounters lava, the rest of the blocks under the lava will not be mined, due to the fact that the quarry is coded to stop at lava, or bedrock. A measure to prevent this issue is to fill the Quarry's excavation area with water. This will turn the lava into obsidian, which the quarry can mine. If the Quarry reaches bedrock, it will need to be relocated before it will mine again.

Powering Methods
Quarries can be powered using MJ, BuildCraft's form of power, or EU, IndustrialCraft's form of power. When using MJ to power a Quarry, Engines must be used. When using EU to power a Quarry, an Energy Link is the best option.

Using BuildCraft
The Quarry, like all other BuildCraft Machines, has an internal energy storage in which it stores MJ until it can perform an operation. Because of this, the Quarry can be powered by any BC compatible engine. For the Quarry to operate at maximum mining speed, it needs 9 MJ/t, which is just under 2 combustion engines running on fuel, outputting 5 MJ/t each, or 9 steam engines, outputting 1 MJ/t each.

As the Quarry has only 4 sides free to attach engines to, one way to power a Quarry is to place 4 Steam Engines on all 4 sides. To run the quarry at full speed with Steam Engines, Conductive Pipes must be used.

Using An Energy Link
Energy Links can be used to power the Quarry using EU. The Quarry uses 22.5 EU/t to run at full speed, due to 2.5 EU being equivalent to 1 MJ. If not directly adjacent to the Quarry, the Energy Link will draw 80 EU/t. It is advised to place the Energy Link adjoining to the Quarry.

Underground Operation
A Quarry can function at any level. Simply placing it against a shaft wall and powering it is all that is required to start the default 9x9 area. The blocks in the frame area will be destroyed.

It is possible to create a Landmark frame as per above ground. It is not necessary for there to be an empty path for all of the landmark beams. The beams can cross through all blocks.

You may also want to carve out the entire area inside the frame, as these are not mined, simply destroyed. To know exactly where, after setting your landmarks, place your quarry but do not power it. This will give you a black and yellow frame you can use as guidelines.

You may also do this above ground as you are not limited to only underground.

Nether Operation
A Quarry can also function in the Nether, following all the same principles as above. Nether-specific behaviors to note include: Nether Ores must be smelted or Macerated into normal ore blocks before being further processed into resources. If a macerator is used, nether ore will produce two normal ore blocks for each nether ore processed. Using a Macerator or Red Matter Furnace on the resulting ore blocks will result in four units of resources for each Nether Ore gathered - making a Nether Quarry a tempting prospect.
 * The Quarry will not provoke Zombie Pigmen when collecting Nether Ores.
 * Nether Ores still have a chance of exploding when mined, just as when mining with a pickaxe. The explosion does not interfere with the operation of the Quarry, however, the ore or other blocks destroyed by the explosion cannot be collected by the Quarry.
 * Glowstone collected by the Quarry will give 2-4 Glowstone Dust, similar to collecting it manually.
 * Obsidian can be mined fast and in large amounts if you can place water in the Nether using ice or water blocks.
 * If built at level 119 or higher, such that the top of the frame intersects with the bedrock ceiling of the Nether, the bedrock may interfere with the Quarry's ability to collect blocks. If Bedrock obstructs the path from the point where the horizontal beams cross to the mining tip of the Quarry, it will be unable to collect any blocks in that column.

The Geothermal Generator is an ideal choice for power, given the practically infinite quantity of lava available, and its energy output of 20 EU/t is near the maximum energy requirement of the Quarry.

Making an automatic ore factory
If you are thinking if setting one up, here are some things to remember:
 * Use Macerators, it will double your ore profit.
 * Buildcraft pipes are much cheaper than the alternative.
 * Note that all Macerators, Compressors, and Furnaces load from the top only!
 * If you are running more than 3 Quarries you need to have Rotary Macerators instead.
 * Make your factory have room for expansion; you will want more Quarries soon.
 * You might want to consider having Automatic Crafting Tables make ingots into blocks for better storage.

Advantages of a quarry

 * A quarry can be powered by buildcraft or IndustrialCraft power, whilst a turtle needs coal or charcoal.
 * Mining turtles need to be unloaded manually every few layers, whereas quarrys never do not.
 * Quarrys can lead directly into a filter/processing system
 * Every time a mining turtle's inventory is full, it returns to the surface and takes a long time to decend again wheras quarrys have no inventory
 * A quarry remains stationary, allowing for easy access wheras a mining turtle decends into the hole it is digging

Advantages of a mining turtle

 * Mining turtles can be moved and/or replaced more easily
 * Mining turtles have less EMC cost than a quarry.
 * Mining turtles have many other purposes.
 * Mining turtles consume less power
 * Mining turtles do not stop operation at lava
 * The area that a mining turtle digs can be easily customised
 * ==Tips==
 * An area of 64x64 provides a low-maintenance quarry that doesn't need replacing nearly as frequently as the default 9x9 quarry, but be advised that mining from a quarry this large takes more than 20 minutes per layer at full speed. Also, the top layers will fill several chests of sand, dirt and cobblestone if a Recycler or Void Pipe is not used.
 * A good method is to run the default size and to gather any ore visible on the walls of the quarry once it is finished.
 * Once placed the quarry will begin to clear all blocks inside the area, so remember not to leave items like Engines, Pipes or the Quarry itself inside the area, or it will destroy itself.
 * If the quarry is close to finishing, or if you are in danger of stopping the quarry, place a Builder on top of the Quarry and put sand or gravel in it. The sand will be built and it will fall into the Quarry. The Quarry will mine the sand or gravel, which can be piped, through a filter, back to the Builder. This will ensure that the Quarry will never stop working.
 * Like most other items, the orange framework can be recycled for Scrap in a Recycler.
 * To pick up and move the Quarry, make sure you are using at least an Iron Pickaxe.
 * You may want to consider using an Energy Condenser to turn dirt and cobblestone into something useful.