Hi gang!

Also getting tired with the constant humming of the nether portal? Fortunately there's an easy solution: just turn it off!

To build this construction you're going to need this:

• 2 dispensers
  
• 9 flint & steel
  
• 1 bucket of water
  
• 1 lever
  
• 1 observer
  
• 1 random non-opaque block
  
• 2 repeaters
  
• 1 comparator
  
• 1 redstone torch
  
• 6 pieces of redstone dust
  
• An actual nether portal: be sure it's 3 blocks wide
  

How to build it

Start by placing the two dispensers in the bottom corners behind the nether portal. Then fill the left one with the 9 flint and steel and place the water bucket into the right one. Next place a lever on the left side of the portal, one block above the dispenser. See the title image for an example.

Then at the back:



Place the random block next to ('before') the dispenser and then place a redstone dust on top of it and a torch at the side, see screenshot above for an example. Two redstone dust in front going into a repeater which is set to 4 ticks (maximum delay). Then place a redstone dust on the other side ('behind') of the redstone torch, let it run into a comparator which is set to subtraction mode (right click it once). One redstone dust coming out.

Place the observer behind that as shown above: so that it observes the redstone dust. Place another redstone dust behind it, running into a comparator set to 2 ticks and a redstone dust behind that which eventually goes into the dispenser (the one with the water bucket).

Now you should be done, as you can see it's quite easy to set this up. Optionally you can fill in the nether portal, I think the magenta glazed terracotta looks amazing here.

How does it work?

When you switch the lever on you'll charge the random block which will trigger the first dispenser (with the flint and steel), that will ignite the portal and turn it on.

When you switch it off then the redstone torch becomes active which does two things. First the comparator gets a signal, doesn't get any from the sides and therefor sends it through. This gets detected by the observer which causes the other dispenser to trigger: water will start flowing out which destroys the portal (turns it off).

Then 4 ticks later a redstone signal is sent into the side of the comparator which blocks the signal (this is the state in the screenshot above). That change also gets noticed by the observer which then triggers the dispenser again. That will cause it to pick up the previously placed waterblock so that it's ready for another use.

Something to keep in mind

With normal use you'll create a portal in the nether and when you step into that one you'll get teleported back to where you started. However... be aware that if you turn the portal in the overworld off then this doesn't affect the portal in the nether. Should someone step into the portal in the nether then they will get teleported to the overworld while a new netherportal will be generated. So be sure not to turn off the portal if someone needs to go back.

And there you have it...

A very simple yet effective way to turn a nether portal on and off.