Whether you are making a bunch of fabulous Minecraft farms or trying to automate your Minecraft house, you will end up creating many Redstone circuits. And unless you want to do all the work manually, the circuits must repeat themselves automatically. Most circuits will have to be activated only after a certain period of time for your Redstone machine to work properly. That’s where a Redstone clock comes into the picture. If you know how to make a Redstone clock in Minecraft, you can time, repeat, and control your Redstone machine with ease. And even though, it might feel overwhelming, it’s easy to build a redstone clock in Minecraft. Let’s find out how.
Make a Redstone Clock in Minecraft (2022)
Please note that this guide does not cover the clock item in Minecraft, and instead, focuses on the Redstone clock circuit. Moreover, there are several types of Redstone clocks in the game, so use the table below to find the one that fits your needs. We have tested the circuits in Minecraft 1.19, but it should work on older versions as well.
What is a Redstone Clock Circuit
A Redstone clock is a circuit made up of Redstone items that produce a Redstone signal after a fixed time. These circuits work by toggling the connected Redstone machine on and off on a loop. It is easy to create small Redstone clock circuits, but making longer circuits takes some time and effort.
Luckily, the longer Redstone clocks only require you to repeat the design of the shorter ones. So, you can learn the short circuit design and modify it as per your needs. This guide includes a variety of Redstone clock circuits, and you can use the one in line with the items in your inventory and those required for your machine’s design.
How to Make a Repeater Clock in Minecraft
- Required Items: Redstone repeaters, Redstone dust, lever
- Usage: To send Redstone signals for long and short periods | Example of usage can be found in automatic Allay farms of Minecraft
The simplest Redstone clock sends out a Redstone signal after every two ticks in the game. Each tick in Minecraft is equivalent to 0.05 seconds of the real world. With that clear, follow these steps to make a simple repeater clock:
1. First, place two Redstone repeaters parallel to each other. They can be next to each other or have a gap of a few blocks between them. These repeaters should be facing in the opposite ways.
2. Then, use Redstone dust to connect and connect the repeaters with each other.
3. Finally, to activate the loop, put a lever next to the circuit. Then, turn it on and off again instantly. You might have to try this multiple times to get the timing right.
Extend the Repeater Clock Tick Time
The basic Redstone repeater clock sends a Redstone signal after every two in-game ticks. But you can delay the time in a variety of ways. The easiest way to extend the tick time is by right-clicking or using the secondary action key on the repeaters. You can set a repeater to a maximum of 4-ticks (or 1 second in the real world).
Now, to extend the time period and the loop, you can also add more repeaters to the circuit. The circuit follows the delay that is set on the most delayed repeater.
Make a Switchable Repeater Redstone Clock in Minecraft
- Required Items: Redstone repeaters, Redstone dust, lever, sticky piston, solid blocks
- Usage: Used to manually send out Redstone signals and initiate/ stop loops of signals
Most Redstone repeater clocks are always stuck in a loop. But for some farms and machines, it can turn out to be a hassle. To fix that, here’s how to make a switchable repeater Redstone clock:
1. First, create a basic Redstone clock, but don’t activate it. Here, this loop should have an open Redstone dust arm and a repeater that isn’t connected to anything on one side.
2. Now, put a Sticky piston diagonal to the empty-handed repeater, a block away from it.
3. After putting the piston, place one solid block in front of the Sticky piston and another one on its side, as shown below.
4. Then, attach a lever to the Sticky piston and put a Redstone torch on the solid block next to the Redstone dust.
Now, whenever the lever is turned on the loop will start and it will be moving the solid block. Every time the solid block touches the loop, it will complete the circuit and send out a signal.
How to Make Redstone Torch Repeater Clock
- Required Items: Redstone repeater, Redstone dust, solid blocks, Redstone torch
- Usage: Used to make low-cost Redstone clock that can send signals with a 3-tick delay or longer
You might not have enough Redstone components while making every in-game circuit. Luckily, you can also make a Redstone clock using only Redstone dust, a repeater, and a Redstone torch. Due to their open design, such Redstone clocks can be extended infinitely, as long as you have enough resources. Though, such clocks must run on at least a 3-tick delay for them to function properly.
Follow these steps to create a torch-based Redstone repeater clock in Minecraft:
1. First, place a Redstone repeater on a solid block and use right-click or secondary action key to set it on a 3-tick delay or longer.
2. Then, extend a line of Redstone dust around that Repeater.
3. Finally, place a solid block at the end of the line and put a Redstone torch on its side. The loop will be activated, and your Redstone clock will become functional.
To expand the clock circuit, you can create a longer line of Redstone dust and place multiple repeaters in its path. All of them should have at least a 3-tick delay.
How to Make a Comparator Clock in Minecraft
- Required Items: Redstone comparators, Redstone dust, Redstone torch
- Usage: Modify and send Redstone signals at a low cost with simpler designs
Similar to repeaters, Redstone comparators are a device that maintain, analyze, and subtract the signal. You can use them to make faster clocks and to send slow signals. Follow these steps to make a comparator Redstone clock in Minecraft:
1. First, place a Redstone comparator on a solid block.
2. After that, right-click on the comparator to turn it on. Then, put pieces of Redstone dust around the comparator. The line should start from the side of the comparator and lead to its front (side with the single pin).
3. Finally, just place a source to power the Redstone circuit, next to the comparator, and start the loop. We are using a Redstone torch as the source of power.
How to Make a Minecraft Hopper Clock
- Required Items: Redstone dust, sticky pistons, block of Redstone, stackable items, hoppers, solid blocks
- Usage: Used to send easy-to-delay Redstone signals | Example of usage can be found in Minecraft tree farm
Hopper clocks are quite unique and interesting, as they use the transfer of items between two hoppers to transmit Redstone signals. If you increase the items, the delay in the signal also increases making hopper clocks easy to modify. Follow these steps to make an easy hopper Redstone clock in Minecraft:
1. First, place a solid block and then a hopper, which should facing that solid block.
2. Then, break the solid block and place a hopper in its place. This new hopper should be facing the existing hopper.
3. Then, put a comparator behind each of the hoppers with Redstone. The comparators’ two pins should be towards the hoppers.
4. Now, put solid blocks right behind the comparators with a piece of Redstone dust on their side.
5. Then, place two sticky pistons next to the Redstone dust. These pistons should be facing each other, as shown in the diagram below. After that, put a Redstone block (power source) in front of one of the pistons.
6. Finally, to activate the Redstone clock, put a few stackable items in the hopper that is towards the power source. We suggest you put the items that stack to up to 64 items like building blocks.
How to Make a Minecart Clock
- Required Items: Redstone dust, Redstone torch, solid blocks, minecart, Redstone torch, rails, powered rails, detector rail, and lever
- Usage: Send somewhat random Redstone signals with an interactive and easily modifiable design
Follow these steps to make a minecart Redstone clock in Minecraft:
1. First, place two solid blocks at a four-block gap from one another. Then, put a temporary rail on top of each of them. These rails should be facing each other.
2. After that, place a detector rain in front of one block and regular rain in front of the other block. These rails will automatically connect themselves to the rail on top of the blocks.
3. For a power source, place a Redstone torch beneath one of the blocks in the middle. Then, place powered rails over the empty blocks in the middle. At this point, you can also break the temporary rails on top of the solid blocks.
4. Next, put a row of Redstone dust leading away from the detector rail to the block where you want the clock’s output to go.
5. Finally, place another solid block on top of both solid blocks to stop the minecart. Then, put a minecart on the rail to the right to activate the clock.
You can extend the rail line to delay the sent signal but there is no reliable way to time it in-game. That’s why, even though minecart clocks look fun and are easy to build, many players avoid building them. You can decide after your own experimentation.
How to Make A Redstone Clock with Observers
- Required Items: Redstone dust and two observers
- Usage: Used to send constant pulse-like Redstone signals
An observer-based Redstone clock is comparatively the easiest and one of the fastest Redstone clocks to build in Minecraft. However, you can’t cause any delay in them. If you are looking for something of this kind, follow these steps to make a Redstone clock with observers in Minecraft:
1. First, place an observer on the ground. Make sure there is no block in front of any of the observer’s faces.
2. Then, put another observer facing the existing observer right next to it. The part with the Redstone dust should be at the back of each observer.
3. At this point, both observers must be emitting Redstone signals like a pulse. You can fit this redstone clock with observers in any machine to use them.
Make a Redstone Timer in Minecraft Right Now
Now, you have all the blueprints to create a variety of Redstone clocks in Minecraft. Thanks to their open design, you can fit them within any of your Redstone machines, whose designs we will be sharing soon. Until then, if you’re looking for ideas to make any such machines, our list of best Minecraft maps can give you plenty of inspiration. But before you do that, make sure you know the different ways to find Redstone in Minecraft. You are going to need plenty of Redstone. With that said, which type of Redstone clock are you going to make? A simple pulse or something more complex? Tell us in the comments below!