---
title: "Excavator - BuildPrint wiki"
description: "The printer's opposite: it breaks the blocks near you that a build wants gone, with the fastest tool you carry."
url: https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/excavator
---

[BuildPrint](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint) [Wiki](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki)Excavator

# Excavator

The printer's opposite: it breaks the blocks near you that a build wants gone, with the fastest tool you carry.

Where a build wants air, or another block, the excavator breaks what stands there, around you and on its own. It is the printer's opposite: it digs from the top down with the fastest tool you carry, and uses the printer's speed and reach.

The excavator breaks blocks for you. Many servers count that as cheating. Check the rules of the server before you use it. It is off by default.

## Turn it on

* In the **Building** tab of the [Settings](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/settings), under **Excavator (automation)**, turn on [**Excavator**](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/settings#setting-excavator).
* Or give **Toggle Excavator** a key in the game's Controls screen. It has none by default, so a stray press cannot start it. Pressing it shows **Excavator ON** or **Excavator OFF**.

## What it leaves

It never breaks:

* The block you stand on, land on or step onto.
* A block next to lava, or one water would run into.
* A block that holds up sand, gravel or another block that stays.
* A chest or other container with items in it. That is left to you.
* Ores, with [**Leave ores**](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/settings#setting-leave-ores) on, the default, so you can mine them yourself with Fortune.
* Spawners, budding amethyst, vaults, suspicious sand and gravel, infested blocks, eggs and bee nests, with [**Leave blocks you can't get back**](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/settings#setting-leave-blocks-you-can-t-get-back) on, the default.
* Ice that needs Silk Touch, and blocks that need a tool you do not carry.

Above the hotbar it says what it left and why, for example **Excavator left 3 ores**.

## Water and lava

Water and lava the build wants gone are cleared too:

* Empty buckets you carry take what they can clear for good: a small pocket, the edge of one, and any lava.
* With [**Soak up water with sponges**](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/settings#setting-soak-up-water-with-sponges) on, a dry sponge you carry goes into the water and takes many blocks of it at once, then the wet sponge is broken. Never where water the build wants, a waterlogged block or water outside the build is in the sponge's reach. Dry the wet sponges in a furnace.
* With [**Fill liquids with junk blocks**](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/settings#setting-fill-liquids-with-junk-blocks) on, the water or lava is filled with a block you carry and have plenty of, such as cobblestone or dirt, and broken out again once nothing flows back. [**Junk blocks**](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/settings#setting-junk-blocks) says which.

When none of these can clear it, it says so: carry empty buckets, or turn on sponges or junk blocks.

## Settings

* **Excavator default Off:** Turns it on.
* **Leave ores default On:** Leaves ores for you to mine.
* **Leave blocks you can't get back default On:** Leaves spawners, budding amethyst, vaults and the like.
* **Soak up water with sponges default Off:** Clears water with dry sponges you carry.
* **Fill liquids with junk blocks default Off:** Fills water and lava with junk blocks, then breaks them.
* **Junk blocks default Cobblestone, cobbled deepslate, dirt, netherrack, stone:** What it fills liquids with. The first one you carry is used.

## On servers

A server with [VoxelSprout Policy](https://voxelsprout.com/voxelsprout-policy/wiki) can turn the excavator off. The status panel then says **Excavator: off on server**. See [The printer on different servers](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/printer-on-servers).

## Next, you may want to

* [Then let the printer build itThe printer](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/printer)
* [Break wrong blocks by handEasy break](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/easy-destroy)

[Previous The printer on different servers](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/printer-on-servers) [Next Paste](https://voxelsprout.com/buildprint/wiki/paste)

Something missing or wrong on this page? Say so on [Discord](https://discord.gg/CvdkGbEW4y).