Granite Grinder

This article is about the Rock Raider vehicle. For the LEGO set featuring it, see 4940 Granite Grinder.

Official artwork of the Granite Grinder

The Granite Grinder is a heavy-duty vehicle from the LEGO Rock Raiders theme. It is a large walker with a robust drill mounted on the front, two boosters on its rear end, and a roll cage for protecting its driver. It can use its drill to grind through most types of rock very quickly, and its two large feet and boosters allow it to cross rubble and debris safely and easily. The Granite Grinder is featured in the LEGO Rock Raiders set 4940 Granite Grinder, along with Axle. Granite Grinders can only be used in the Windows version of the video game LEGO Rock Raiders; they do not appear at all in the PlayStation version.

In LEGO Rock Raiders for Windows

The Windows version of the Granite Grinder

Official artwork of the Granite Grinder with engine and drill upgrades

In the Windows version of LEGO Rock Raiders, the Granite Grinder is classified as a large vehicle, and requires three energy crystals for power. A Rock Raider must be trained as a driver to use a Granite Grinder.

Although by default it moves at a relatively slow speed of 0.5 blocks per second, the Granite Grinder is fairly quick with drilling. Without upgrades, it takes 0.8 seconds to drill dirt, 2 seconds to drill loose rock, 180 seconds (3 minutes) to drill hard rock, and 16 seconds to drill seams.

Despite otherwise appearing impressive, the Granite Grinder is as slow at drilling hard rock as the Small Digger is. The Chrome Crusher uses an identical drill model, yet it can mine hard rock 180 times faster by default. While an upgraded Granite Grinder is far faster for mass-mining dirt and loose rock than a Small Digger, in missions with a lot of of hard rock it may be preferable save up two more energy crystals to teleport down a Chrome Crusher.

Dependency

The Granite Grinder costs three energy crystals and requires the following for teleportation:

• Rock Raider
• Level 1 Tool Store
• Level 1 Teleport Pad
• Level 1 Power Station
• Level 2 Support Station
• Super Teleport

Upon telelporting down a Granite Grinder for the first time, the help window will display this message:

You have now got your first Granite Grinder. It will let you drill through most rock types in a very short amount of time.

Upgrades

A fully upgraded Granite Grinder

There are three upgrades available for the Granite Grinder:

• Drill: Costs twenty pieces of ore. Adds a second drill to the vehicle. It now only takes 0.4 seconds to drill dirt, 1 second to drill loose rock, 150 seconds (2.5 minutes) to drill hard rock, and 8 seconds to drill seams.
• Engine: Costs ten pieces of ore. Adds two more boosters to the back of the vehicle, increasing the vehicle's route speed from 0.5 blocks per second to 0.8 blocks per second.
• Scanner: Costs five pieces of ore. Installs a radar aboard the vehicle, with a scanning radius of 5 blocks.

In-game appearances

• In 7. Drilling With Vehicles, a Granite Grinder is behind the second wall the player must drill, to demonstrate how it can drill faster than either Rock Raiders on foot or the Small Digger.

Appearances in other media

Prototype 4940 design from The Ultimate LEGO Book

Page 31 of The Ultimate LEGO Book shows a photograph of a prototype Granite Grinder. This model is much more slender, and uses an unreleased roll cage piece. Its feet are smaller, pipes are attached to the sides of the vehicles, and spotlights are attached near the back. The minifigure shown seems to be a mix of Axle, Docs, and Bandit.

Names in other languages

Language		Name	Meaning
Czech Čeština		Drtič žuly
Dutch Nederlands		Underground boormachine
Finnish Suomi		Maanalainen porausvaunu
French Français		Broyeur de granite
German Deutsch		Granitbrecher
Hebrew עִבְרִית Ivrit		גורס גרניט Gores granit
Italian Italiano		Trivella del sottosuolo
Japanese 日本語 Nihongo		ドリルウォーカー Doriruu~ōkā
Korean 한국어 Hangugeo		화강암분쇄기 Hwagang-am bunswaegi
Norwegian Norsk		Underjordisk drill
Polish Polski		Podziemny świder (set) Szlifierka granitowa (video game)
Russian Русский Russkiy		Гранитодробилка Granitodrobilka
Spanish Español		Trituradora de granito
Danish and Swedish versions leave this vehicle's name unchanged

The language table above is missing information for Portuguese.