Learn about 3 common uses for the Industrial System
The RUST Industrial System (RIS) is an automated processing game mechanic that improves the quality of life of solos and teams within the RUST community. Like the Electrical and Farming systems, RIS introduces various components, game features, and blueprint functionality to allow for more time outside the base and less time spent crafting and organizing. For more detailed information, please review our RUST Industrial System Guide.
We’ve compiled a step-by-step process of each of the three common uses that players might have for the RUST Industrial System. They are listed below and take each piece of assembly in turn.
- How to move loot with the RUST Industrial System
- How to craft items with the RUST Industrial System
- How to create vending machine bunkers with the RUST Industrial System
1. How to move loot with the RUST Industrial System
Taking a practical approach to the utility provided by this system, let’s look at a simple loot transfer system from a team’s Large Furnace outside the base to a Large Wood Box inside the base. The items required for this exercise, not including the box & furnace, are as follows:
- Pipe Tool
- Wire Tool
- 2 Storage Adaptors
- Industrial Conveyor
We start off by assuming that the large furnace is already deployed outside and the box is already deployed somewhere inside the base.
Step 1
Connect the storage adaptors to both the large furnace and large wood box once you have them placed where you want them.
Step 2
Choose a place inside your base (it can be destroyed outside) for your industrial conveyor. This should be given the same consideration as a standard electrical implement that you will need to access regularly in the future, such as an Electrical Branch or Switch.
Step 3
Once placed, use a wire tool to run at least 1 electrical unit of power into the industrial conveyor’s Power Input port. The unit should now be adequately charged.
Step 4
Using your pipe tool, interact with the storage adaptor attached to the large furnace earlier. Select Industrial Out and run your pipe in your desired orientation from Industrial Out (furnace) to the Industrial In port of the industrial conveyor.
Step 5
Continuing to use your pipe tool, find the Industrial Out on the industrial conveyor and attach it in your desired orientation so that it connects with the Industrial In port, located on the storage adaptor connected to your large wood box. This completes the pipework portion, and you should no longer require the pipe tool for this exercise.
Step 6
With pipes properly connected and electricity ran, hold the E
key while facing the industrial conveyor, displaying a menu wheel option.
Step 7
Select ‘#conveyor_filter_change_desc’ to enter the programming interface.
Step 8
It is essential to understand how this interface works – you are selecting items you wish the conveyor removes when its input slot detects them. When using the Item Search feature at the top, it is crucial not to choose things like Wood or assorted Ores, as it will remove your fuel and resources before they have smelted.
Instead, with a bit of forethought to future use, add Metal Fragments, Sulfur, Charcoal, and High Quality Metal to the process list. Each item will appear in its own small box beneath the search feature in the interface window.
Step 9
Understanding and input a value in the Min and Max sections of the moving item’s window box is important. To move all cooked ore as soon as it is finished smelting, set both values to 0. This tells the conveyor that as soon as ANY cooked ore of this type is detected, transfer it to the output port I have selected.
You may also decide to change these values to other numbers. For instance, setting Min to 100 tells the device to move the items only when a minimum of 100 are detected as having been cooked. Setting the Max to 1000 will toggle it only to transfer the cooked byproduct when they’ve reached full stack status.
Step 10
Once all the above steps have been taken, once again, hold the E
key while looking at the industrial conveyor and select Turn On. Load and start your large furnace and marvel as you’ve completed your first industrial run, and your cooked ore is now transferring itself instantly into your selected large box.
2. How to craft items with the RUST Industrial System
With the other chief feature of the system being automated crafting, let’s look at a simple loot transfer and craft system from one large wood box (A) to an industrial conveyor, feeding into the industrial crafter, then outputting into another large box (B). The items required for this exercise, not including boxes, are as follows:
- Pipe Tool
- Wire Tool
- 2 Storage Adaptors
- 2 Industrial Conveyors
- Industrial Crafter
- Materials for the crafting of Medical Syringes
- A Medical Syringe Blueprint
We start by assuming that both large boxes are already placed in their desired locations within your base and an appropriately tiered work bench. For this exercise, we are going to create Medical Syringes.
Step 1
Connect the storage adaptors to both large wood boxes once you have them placed where you want them.
Step 2
Deploy your industrial crafter onto your highest-tier workbench available. For this exercise, it MUST be a work bench level 2 or higher.
Step 3
Choose a place inside your base for your industrial conveyors (#’s 1 & 2). This should be given the same consideration as a standard electrical implement that you will need to access regularly in the future, such as an Electrical Branch or Switch.
Step 4
Once placed, use a wire tool to run at least 3 electrical units of power into the first (#1) industrial conveyor’s Power Input port. With 1 power utilized, now run a wire from the Electrical Passthrough port of the first industrial conveyor into the Power Input port of the second (#2) industrial conveyor. With 2 power utilized, now run a wire from the Electrical Passthrough port of the #2 industrial conveyor into the Power Input port of the industrial crafter. All units should now be adequately charged for operation.
Step 5
Using your pipe tool, interact with the storage adaptor attached to the first (material containing output) large box placed. Select Industrial Out and run your pipe in your desired orientation from Industrial Out (box A) to the Industrial In port of the first (#1) industrial conveyor.
Step 6
Continuing to use your pipe tool, find the Industrial Out on the (#1) industrial conveyor and attach it in your desired orientation so that it connects with the Industrial In port on the industrial crafter.
Step 7
Continue the pipework from the Industrial Out port of the industrial crafter to the Industrial In port of your second (#2) conveyor.
Step 8
With pipes properly connected and electricity running, hold the E
key while facing the first (#1) industrial conveyor, displaying a menu wheel option.
Step 9
Select ‘#conveyor_filter_change_desc’ to enter the programming interface.
Step 10
It is important to understand how this interface works – you are selecting items you wish the conveyor removes when its input slot detects them. When using the Item Search feature at the top, it is important to select the appropriate crafting materials for the blueprint that you intend to make. For the purposes of this exercise, we must add Cloth, Low Grade Fuel, and Metal Fragments to the passthrough list. Each of these items will appear in its own small box beneath the search feature in the interface window once added.
Step 11
It is important to understand and input a value in both the Min and Max sections of the moving item’s window box. If you intend to use all the material available to craft as many Medical Syringes as possible, simply set both values to 0 on all items. This is telling the conveyor that as soon as ALL of the required materials are detected, transfer them to the output port I have selected. Leaving it blank also works. You may also be very specific if you’d like.
Step 12
Hold the E
key while facing the second (#2) industrial conveyor, displaying a menu wheel option.
Step 13
Select ‘#conveyor_filter_change_desc’ to enter the programming interface.
Step 14
Utilize the Item Search feature as before, and select Medical Syringe.
Step 15
Set the values as before, usually to Min 0 and Max 0, to transfer all created medical syringes down the line.
Step 16
Hold the E
key while facing the industrial crafter, displaying a menu wheel option.
Step 17
Select Open from the menu to open the crafter interface.
Step 18
At the very top of the crafter interface window, insert the Medical Syringe Blueprint. The inserted blueprint is the only item craftable by the crafter at any given time, so removing it removes the ability to generate additional medical syringes automatically.
Step 19
Once all the above steps have been taken, once again, hold the E
key while looking at both industrial conveyors and the industrial crafter and select turn On on all units.
Step 20
Rejoice as you simply need to load box 1 with materials from now until you alter the system to make all of the medical syringes you want.
3. How to create vending machine bunkers with the RUST Industrial System
With the standard two functions out of the way, let us venture deeper into the defensive capabilities of the Industrial System; bunkers. Although piping cannot be placed through walls directly, it can be used through doorways and windows. Furthermore, it may be placed through entities such as window coverings and gaps between door frames and Vending Machines, the latter being exactly what we’re going to use.
For thoroughness-sake, you CAN still rotate the vending machine (if empty and accessible) with pipes attached to it; it simply looks strange until you flip it back. The items required for this exercise, not including boxes, are as follows:
- Pipe Tool
- Wire Tool
- 2 Storage Adaptors
- 2 Industrial Conveyors
- Materials for building and upgrading a base, specifically at the least 2 foundations, 2 walls, a door frame, and a ceiling
- 1 building plan and hammer
- 1 Vending Machine
We start by assuming there is a pre-existing electrical system in place and that the constructor of the system is being protected by teammates so as to not be interrupted while building. The premise of this bunker system is to make use of space otherwise wasted in a standard build, as small as a honeycombed 2×1.
Step 1
To begin, we must first construct what looks to be a standard 2-walls and roof covering in the position that we’d like the bunker, as demonstrated in this photo. Do NOT upgrade either wall yet.

Step 2
Crucial step: Place your vending machine into the constructed opening, with the back corners of the vending machine as close to each wall as possible. The gap shown below is critical to this working properly.
Note: It is HIGHLY encouraged to disable broadcasting using the vending machine’s default interface options.


Step 3
Destroy either wall (not both) to expose the back of the vending machine. Build a door frame in front of the vending machine and upgrade. Deploy your small storage box (or any other receptacle fit to take its place), and both Industrial Conveyors oriented however you like. Attach one storage adaptor to the small storage box and another to the back of the vending machine, as shown.


Step 4
Now is the time to make our Industrial connections. Keep in mind that we’re creating a simple loop between our assorted components, which should line up in this order:
- Small storage box Storage Adaptor, Industrial Out port should connect to Industrial Conveyor 1’s Industrial In Port.
- The Industrial Out port of Conveyor 1 should then connect to the Industrial In port of the Vending Machines Storage Adaptor.
- The Vending Machine Storage Adaptor Industrial Out port should connect to the Industrial In port of Industrial Conveyor 2.
- Industrial Conveyor 2 Industrial Out port should then connect to the Industrial In port of the original Small Storage Box Storage Adaptor, finishing our loop.
- Wire at least 1 electrical unit of energy to each of the Industrial Conveyors – they should begin to light up and flash red when this is done correctly.
When completed, you should be left with a system that looks like the following:


Step 5
Industrial Conveyor 1 now operates as the transmitter TO the vending machine, and Industrial Conveyor 2 now operates as the transmitter FROM the vending machine. Vending machines have a maximum capacity of 30 SLOTS of space at any given time.
Step 6
Input desired items to be deposited into the vending machine into your small storage box. Turn on Industrial Conveyor 1 to transfer these items into the vending machine, automatically moving all items stored (up to 30 stacks) into the vending machine. When no filters exist within the Conveyors programming, ALL items will be moved as space permits. Use filters to specify what you’d like moved.
Step 7
When satisfied that the system is working appropriately, you may close in the remaining back wall of the vending machine and upgrade it, as shown here, effectively creating your bunker. It should now appear as shown below.

How the bunker works
This bunker design works off of the maxim that Non-Authorized players cannot make electrical connections in areas in which they are building blocked. To effectively ‘close’ this bunker, players must simply remove the electrical input from Industrial Conveyor 2 (the one that removes items from the vending machine) to disable the toggling of on and off.
Without Tool Cupboard Privilege, this connection cannot be re-established, meaning the only way to the loot at the back of the vending machine is (presumably) through an armored wall and the rest of your honeycomb or by breaking the vending machine, which immediately despawns all loot contained within permanently.
This concept can be worked into any triangle or square honeycomb but must be planned for in advance. Teams raiding through walls COULD end up with access to these vending machines and their loot, but teams raiding through doors MUST get TC and have a working knowledge of the system to access it. Use at your own risk.
Final thoughts
No system is ever truly complete, perfect, or impregnable, as the imaginations of the community are always coming up with new and unique methods of reinventing the wheel, so to speak. Never stop trying to improve the performance of your base, and don’t be afraid to try new things.
As always, make sure to join us on Discord and share the exciting creations that you are able to piece together in mad scientist style. We’d love to hear them and try some out ourselves.