Sandustry Shaker Setup - Wet Sand, Gold and Residue Layout

Shaker Setup at a glance

A Shaker processes Wet Sand into Residue and Gold

The Shaker takes Wet Sand, produces Residue, and has a 25% chance to extract one Gold. Gold passes through the machine while other solid pixels remain on top until they are pushed aside. The official tip recommends a downward diagonal arrangement so Residue has a direction to move instead of piling directly above the Shaker.

Make Wet Sand before the Shaker

Water creates Wet Sand when it touches Sand. Put that conversion upstream and keep the material state visible. If the machine is waiting, check the input for Wet Sand rather than adding more dry Sand or assuming the Shaker is damaged.

Use a short feeder while testing. The Shaker can produce a useful Gold output even when Residue is the main volume, so the output side needs space before the input side is scaled. A small buffer lets you pause the water route and clear a pile without rebuilding the source.

Build the downward diagonal

Arrange the Shaker and its nearby floor so Residue can move downward and away from the machine. The exact number of tiles depends on terrain, but the official diagonal recommendation is the key layout rule. Keep the Gold lane open through or past the machine and place the Residue route on the side where falling material will not return to the input.

Protect the Gold output

Gold is the reason the Shaker is often the first Gold-production structure. Let it pass into a clean lane rather than allowing it to share a crowded by-product route. If the next stage is not ready, use a visible buffer so the machine can stop safely instead of hiding Gold inside a pile of Residue.

The 25% chance is the explicit value in the checked source. Do not turn it into a guaranteed rate for a long-term spreadsheet, because the game is in Early Access and the page may change. Use the current machine behavior in your save when deciding how much Wet Sand to supply.

Route and inspect Residue

Residue is the material most likely to reveal a weak layout. Other solid pixels can remain on top of the Shaker until pushed aside, and non-Gold material dragged into the machine can become trapped. A side launcher, open floor, or dedicated conveyor route can keep that material away from the Gold lane.

When you see a pile, stop the feeder first. Remove the trapped material manually, clear the landing path, and restart with a small input. Adding another Shaker before fixing the original output only duplicates the blockage.

Scale only after the diagonal works

Copy a working module with the game's construction shortcuts, but leave a gap between modules so one Residue pile cannot touch the next Shaker. Filters isolate by-products before a mixed line becomes opaque. If Gold stops while Wet Sand is present, inspect the pass-through lane and the destination rather than the water source.

Recheck interactions after updates

The official Shaker page and Beginner's Guide establish the input, output, chance, and diagonal tip used here. Exact interactions with every neighboring block are Early Access-sensitive. Revisit the official page after a patch before treating this layout as a permanent rule.

Test one diagonal module first

Feed a small batch of Wet Sand, observe Gold passing through, and watch where Residue settles. Only after the diagonal clears itself should you use copy and paste to make a second lane. Keep the two modules far enough apart that a blocked output cannot push material into the neighboring Shaker.

Maintain the output side

Inspect the top and side of the Shaker whenever Gold stops. Remove non-Gold material that was dragged into the machine, clear the downhill path, and restart the feeder slowly. This maintenance sequence is more reliable than adding input or changing the water source without checking the actual pile.