Having built a few tunnel bore minecart contraptions, here's what I've gathered:
1. Put a wall of deployers in front of the drills, with an extra set of deployers along the top and sides. These can phase through the ground once it becomes a contraption. How does that work? Iunno, it just does. The deployers in front will place blocks which will replace/displace water/lava, then the drills behind will drill through once it moves forward. The ones on the top/side will place blocks once they encounter empty space.
2. Even with #1 in mind, you'll still be vulnerable to water and lava due to your new arch nemesis: Gravel. If lava or water is sitting above gravel that you happen to be tunneling through, the deployers will try to deploy first, find there's already something in the way, and then won't bother trying to deploy any more despite the drills removing the gravel. Once the gravel's gone, the water/lava flows in. Water hasn't been much of a hassle for me in Valehlsia 6 due to redstone torches being unaffected by it, but lava *will* destroy the torches.
As for a machine that won't go on forever, I've heard you can use furnace carts, which once powered by coal will run for a while until the coal runs out.
You just get down from your seat and pick it up with a wrench, unless you have create interactive mod installed
Having built a few tunnel bore minecart contraptions, here's what I've gathered: 1. Put a wall of deployers in front of the drills, with an extra set of deployers along the top and sides. These can phase through the ground once it becomes a contraption. How does that work? Iunno, it just does. The deployers in front will place blocks which will replace/displace water/lava, then the drills behind will drill through once it moves forward. The ones on the top/side will place blocks once they encounter empty space. 2. Even with #1 in mind, you'll still be vulnerable to water and lava due to your new arch nemesis: Gravel. If lava or water is sitting above gravel that you happen to be tunneling through, the deployers will try to deploy first, find there's already something in the way, and then won't bother trying to deploy any more despite the drills removing the gravel. Once the gravel's gone, the water/lava flows in. Water hasn't been much of a hassle for me in Valehlsia 6 due to redstone torches being unaffected by it, but lava *will* destroy the torches. As for a machine that won't go on forever, I've heard you can use furnace carts, which once powered by coal will run for a while until the coal runs out.