What HRB's Drills Adds to Your World

HRB's Drills Mod for Minecraft turns mining into a driving job. Instead of swinging a pickaxe block by block, you climb into a drill vehicle, point it where you want to dig, and let the machine chew through stone, dirt, and ore veins while you ride along. The result is a vehicle mod that trades tedious branch mining for a loud, fuel-hungry machine you actually pilot through your own tunnels.

The drill is the centerpiece. It bores through stone and dirt far quicker than hand mining, and because you steer it with normal movement keys, you carve tunnels in whatever direction you point the bit. If you also enjoy vehicle-style mods, the same author's car and transport projects pair naturally with something like Automobility.

Driving and Fueling the Drill

Controls are simple once you are seated. WASD moves the drill and aims the bit, and holding reverse lets you back up steep slopes to climb hills you could not walk up. Press Space to snap the drill to the nearest cardinal direction, which is handy for keeping long tunnels straight instead of drifting diagonal.

Fuel and coolant are the parts that catch new players out. Press M while riding to open the drill's menu, then drop in fuel to keep it running. You also need a water bucket in the coolant slot. Skip the coolant and the drill turns painfully slow, so always fill it before a long dig.

To pick the drill back up, just attack it. The vehicle collapses into your inventory so you can carry it to the next site instead of leaving it stuck in a hole.

Drilling in the Nether

The drill is not limited to the Overworld. Right-click a netherite block onto the drill and it gains lava resistance, which lets you bore straight through lava lakes without burning up. As a bonus, the mod also lets you see through lava while you drill, so the Nether stops being a blind, fiery hazard and becomes just another place to mine.

Crafting and Setup

The drill is built from fairly standard materials, and the project page shows the full crafting layout. Gather the parts, assemble the drill, and park it somewhere you do not mind digging up.

One setup detail that trips people up: the drill breaks blocks through the same path as mob griefing, so it needs that gamerule on. Run /gamerule mobGriefing true in your world before you start, or the drill will sit there and do nothing.

Installing HRB's Drills

The drill runs on Forge, so set up a Forge profile first if you have not already. The Minecraft Forge guide walks through installing the loader, and the general how to install Minecraft mods page covers the rest. Once Forge is ready, drop the drill JAR into your mods folder and launch the profile.

The mod lists no required dependencies, so you should not need extra libraries to make it run. Bugs and suggestions go to the project's source repo and Discord, both linked from the project page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I pick the drill back up? Attack the drill while it is parked. It collapses into your inventory so you can redeploy it elsewhere.

Why is my drill mining so slowly? You are almost certainly missing coolant. Open the menu with M and put a water bucket in the coolant slot. The drill is also fuel-thirsty by design, so keep fuel topped up for long digs.

Can I use the drill in the Nether? Yes. Right-click a netherite block onto the drill to give it lava resistance and the ability to see through lava, then bore through lava lakes safely.

Do I need any other mods installed? No. The mod has no required dependencies, so a working Forge profile and the drill JAR are enough to get started.

Is HRB's Drills still being maintained? The last release is from November 2024. The project has been quiet since then, so check the project page for current status before relying on new updates.