Describe the Bug

This specifically affects contraptions made of at least three distinct sections connected by mechanical bearings on parallel axes. Parts directly rotated by a mechanical bearing into unloaded chunks behave normally, but parts which are being moved indirectly, via a second mechanical bearing on the rotating part, can get stuck.

The affected contraptions are left as entities - the same as if they were in motion - but stationary and with no way to turn them back into blocks.

I've had this happen accidentally twice in survival, and I've been able to reproduce it in creative via the minimal contraption shown in the screenshot.

Reproduction Steps

Consider a contraption consisting of parts A, B, and C.

A and C are identical and each consist of a power source (creative motor or windmill) connected through a sequenced gearshift to a mechanical bearing. When a redstone signal is applied to the sequenced gearshift it rotates the mechanical bearing by 180 degrees.

B is a long arm with mechanical bearings at each end, joining A and C. The connections between the parts consist of pairs of mechanical bearings face-to-face, so one bearing is attached to A, one to C, and two to B. Superglue is used to stick the blocks which form each part together.

The contraption made by combining A, B and C is capable of moving rapidly in a straight line by activating the two sequenced gearshifts one after another. First A rotates B and C 180 degrees forward, then C is in front and rotates B and A to the front. A and C always maintain the same orientation, but B gets flipped over with each "step" the contraption takes.

When this contraption hits the edge of the loaded chunks, it breaks. Let's assume that A is in a loaded chunk and is trying to rotate B and C into an unloaded chunk. A will be fine because it stays as normal blocks throughout. B turns into an entity while it is moving, but turns back into blocks properly when it stops moving. The blocks of B are correctly placed even in the unloaded chunk. C also turns into an entity, but does not get placed in the unloaded chunk. It gets stuck as an entity and is left in its original location.

I have found no way to turn such a stuck contraption-entity back into blocks. The only option is to "kill" the entity via commands, which sadly does not return the blocks used to make it. Simply reversing the motion does not cause the stuck part C to reattach to B.

Expected Result

All contraption components should turn back into blocks correctly.

It would be nice if there was some command to forcibly turn stuck contraption-entities back into blocks too. Ideally I'd like to salvage the fairly large contraption I built in my survival world, but don't worry about it if you're not releasing updates for 1.18 any more.

Screenshots and Videos

Note that the above screenshot is of the contraption before it breaks. After it breaks, either A or C will be separated and left behind.

Crash Report or Log

No response

Operating System

Linux

Mod Version

0.5.0c

Minecraft Version

1.18.2

Forge Version

40.1.55

Other Mods

flywheel 0.6.4

Additional Context

No response

This also seems to be an issue on 1.19.2-0.5.1.f (Forge 43.3.5, as part of the Steampunk [LPS] modpack), as I have just experienced this in my world. It's a shared sentiment that it'd be nice to have a way to unstick the machine.