Something that was long overdue was a lighting system in the spawning chamber. With it I could turn the grinder on or off as desired. Setting up the wire wasn't terribly difficult - most of the trouble was finding the right place to put repeaters.
Some wire and the torch that turns the system on or off at the flick of a lever.
One of the things I really wanted to do was make a sorting system in the spot where zombies are killed that would automatically dump the zombie flesh into lava, and put the other drops into a double chest. But after spending some time in Creative mode trying to get a working design I gave up. Instead I opted to make a hidden chest revealed by a pressure plate that I would keep non-flesh drops in. Zombies used to be pretty useless if you ask me. Now with all the goodies they give, they're pretty decent mobs.
The setup is pretty simple, and can be seen (in a rough form) in these two pictures.
The sticky piston is by default extended due to the redstone torch. When I step on the pressure plate, a line of wire powers the block the torch is on, turning it off. This causes the piston to retract. The finished work, closed and opened:
I really like this design. Easy to build and operate. Part of me wants to use this more.
While looking for other things that needed to be finished, I discovered a flaw in my design. The chest containing stone swords had no way of being accessed, short of punching a hole in the wall. Snooping around the wiring I saw another opportunity to use a pressure plate and piston setup.
My goodness it was cramped but I fit the stuff right in.
The piston is by default extended. When I hit the pressure plate, the wire turns off a torch and retracts the piston arm. Unfortunately, this design required I make a small indent in the wall. Which I guess doesn't look horrible, but it strikes me as kind of out of place.
Last thing to do was seal up the wiring for the crusher. I debated having a door leading to it but figured it was very unlikely there'd be a need to access it, so I just sealed it up.
With that, the place was done. I removed the chests and stuff.
If I do say so myself, that is an excellent looking build.
The last touch was a building at the entrance of the ladder down. Made it a bit hastily but for the most part it fits the theme of the grinder. The inside of the roof has a notched pattern which was unintended but nice.
Next thing up? Might go back and work on the village some more. Will probably level out the area the tower is at, and rebuild it.
