There is no official Pressure Chamber to Stone Press ratio in Moon Sweepers, and no confirmed community number that holds for every base. What you do have are the listed machine rates. Going by those rates, one Pressure Chamber can take in more Dust per minute than one Stone Press needs as Sand. So the usual starting point is one chamber for more than one press, then adjusting from what you actually see on your belts.
The short version:
- A Pressure Chamber is listed at up to 5 kg of Dust every 12 seconds, which is a theoretical 25 kg per minute.
- A Stone Press is listed at 1 kg of Dust plus 1 kg of Moon Sand every 6 seconds, which is 10 kg of Dust and 10 kg of Sand per minute, producing up to 20 kg of Moonstone.
- How much Sand a chamber returns for each kilogram of Dust is not stated in the build menu text. That single unknown is why a fixed ratio cannot be promised.
- Each press also needs its own raw Dust supply, so the Dust you collect has to cover both the chamber and every press.
Players have asked for exactly this kind of ratio guide, so this page sticks to numbers that appear in the game text and guides, shows the arithmetic, and gives you a method to measure your own line instead of copying a ratio that might not fit your version or layout.
The Listed Rates Behind Any Ratio
Every figure below comes from the in-game build menu descriptions, repeated across several gameplay videos and guides. The per-minute values are simple conversions of the listed cycles and assume the machine runs nonstop with full power and steady supply.
| Machine | Price | Listed cycle | Per minute at full speed | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure Chamber | $500 | Up to 5 kg Dust every 12 s | Up to 25 kg Dust in | 10 kW |
| Stone Press | $1,000 | 1 kg Dust + 1 kg Sand into 2 kg Moonstone every 6 s | 10 kg Dust + 10 kg Sand in, 20 kg Moonstone out | 18 kW |
Treat these as ceilings. A guide that lists the same figures stresses that they are machine capacities, not guaranteed factory output. Delivery speed, power and the outgoing belt can all hold a machine below its listed rate.
The number nobody has confirmed
The build menu says the chamber presses Dust into Moon Sand, but it does not say whether 5 kg of Dust becomes 5 kg of Sand. Players and guides tend to talk about it as if the weight carries over, but that is an assumption, not a listed value. Until you measure it, keep the ratio math below as a plan to test rather than a rule.
What the Math Suggests
If you assume a chamber turns its Dust into the same weight of Sand, the listed rates work out like this:
- One chamber at full speed: up to 25 kg of Sand per minute.
- One press at full speed: needs 10 kg of Sand per minute.
- Two presses at full speed: need 20 kg of Sand per minute, which still fits under one chamber's ceiling.
- Three presses at full speed: need 30 kg of Sand per minute, which is more than one chamber's ceiling.
On those assumptions, one chamber can keep two presses fully supplied with Sand, with some chamber capacity left over. A third press on the same chamber would be short of Sand some of the time.
The raw Dust side of the ratio
The press needs raw Dust as well as Sand, and that Dust must bypass the chamber. For a one-chamber, two-press line running at the listed ceilings, the Dust you need to collect is:
| Destination | Dust per minute at listed full speed |
|---|---|
| Pressure Chamber (to make Sand) | Up to 25 kg, or about 20 kg if it only has to feed two presses |
| Stone Press 1, Dust input | 10 kg |
| Stone Press 2, Dust input | 10 kg |
That is roughly 40 kg of Dust per minute if the chamber only makes the Sand the two presses use. Few early bases collect Dust that fast, which is why many lines end up limited by collection rather than by machine count. If your Dust supply is the real limit, adding presses will not raise output.
A community report that does not match full speed
One Steam player who compared setups with the in-game board reported that one chamber could be linked to four presses by chaining splitters on splitters, and called it substantially more profitable than their first setup. That is a real report, but it does not say the four presses ran at full speed. By the listed rates, four presses at full speed would need far more Sand than one chamber's listed ceiling. Read that report as "one chamber can be split across many presses", not as proof of a full-speed one-to-four ratio.
A Starting Layout to Test
Build the smallest line that can tell you something, then expand it.
- Put a Splitter on the incoming Dust conveyor.
- Send one branch into the Pressure Chamber input. The input is on the side without the handle.
- Split the remaining raw Dust again so each Stone Press gets its own Dust branch.
- Split the chamber's Sand output so each press gets its own Sand branch.
- Check every press port. The ports are marked for Dust and for Sand, and swapped belts stop the press.
- Merge the Moonstone outputs into one belt to the Depot intake.
Since patch 1.0.3, splitters and mergers snap straight onto each other port to port, which makes chained splits like this easier to build. The same patch fixed splitters and mergers placed by crewmates, so co-op groups on 1.0.3 can share this work.
How a splitter divides capsules between its branches is not documented in the material we have. One guide mentions automatic alternation between branches, but it does not give exact proportions. If one press seems to get more than its share, measure before you assume the split is even.
Measure the Ratio With Queues
Because the conversion yield and the real split behavior are unconfirmed, the reliable way to balance your line is to watch where capsules collect. A queue that keeps growing marks the stage that is too slow. A machine that keeps waiting marks the stage that is starved.
Run this test with your current build:
- Stop adding machines or vehicles for a while.
- Make sure the grid is fully powered. Run the test in daylight, or check that stored charge is not running out.
- Let the line run and look at the belt in front of each machine input.
- Note whether each queue grows, shrinks or holds steady.
- Change only one thing, then repeat.
Reading the results
| What you see | What it means for the ratio | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Dust piles up in front of the chamber | Chamber is the bottleneck | Add a second chamber on a split |
| Sand piles up at the press Sand inputs | Presses are the bottleneck | Add a press, or send spare Sand to sell |
| Press Sand inputs often empty, Dust waiting | Not enough Sand per press | Add a chamber or remove a press from that chamber |
| Press Dust inputs often empty, Sand waiting | Too little raw Dust bypasses the chamber | Send more of the split to the presses |
| Everything waiting, belts mostly empty | Collection is the limit | Add Dust collection, not machines |
| Moonstone backs up on the output | Output route is the limit | Fix or widen the delivery belt |
The goal is not a perfect number. It is a line where the expensive machines receive material regularly and nothing is stuck downstream. When queues are short and stable at every stage, your ratio is right for your base.
Count rather than guess
If you want an actual number for your own save, time one machine. Watch how many capsules enter the chamber over a fixed period, then how many Sand capsules leave it over the same period. That tells you whether the weight carries over in your version. Do the same at one press. Two short counts give you a ratio based on your own game instead of an assumption.
Power Is Part of the Ratio
A machine ratio that ignores power will fail at night. Each chamber needs 10 kW and each press needs 18 kW, so one chamber with one press already needs 28 kW before anything else on the grid.
| Line | Power needed at listed values |
|---|---|
| 1 chamber + 1 press | 28 kW |
| 1 chamber + 2 presses | 46 kW |
| 2 chambers + 2 presses | 56 kW |
For scale, a Solar Post is listed at 3 kW and a Solar Twin (M) at 7.5 kW, both as nominal generation in sunlight.
Low power slows machines rather than always stopping them. One player saw their machines report low power and run at 52% until a large solar panel was added. A press at half speed changes your ratio as much as a missing chamber does. Fix power first, then judge the ratio.
When to Change Your Machine Counts
Use your queue test, not a fixed rule, to decide what to buy next:
- Add a chamber when presses keep waiting for Sand while Dust is available and power is sufficient.
- Add a press when Sand builds up in front of your presses and you have both the extra raw Dust and the extra 18 kW.
- Add collection when every machine waits and the belts are mostly empty.
- Add power before either machine if the grid demand is near or above generation.
Players have asked for faster Pressure Chambers and Stone Presses, and no machine speed upgrade is confirmed in current sources. To raise output you add more machines in parallel, and each one adds to the Dust, Sand and power the line needs. Expand one stage at a time, then run the queue test again before the next purchase.