3 Ways to Earn Endless Supplies of Fallout 4 Crafting Materials

F4DLC2-1

Tired of running out of resources for your factories in the Contraptions Workshop add-on for Fallout 4? So are we, so we’ve devised three unbeatable strategies for earning all the junk and crafting crap you’ll ever need to keep those assembly lines rolling.

Scrap and junk are more important than ever in Contraptions. Builders, the new manufacturing machines that pump out anything you want in the Fallout 4 world, require a steady stream of materials to keep the building process going. If you’re looking for lots of ammo, weapons, armor or miscellaneous trash, you’ll need lots of junk resources. We’ve compiled three methods for getting endless supplies, so check out each below — one is all about settlements, one requires a trip to Far Harbor, and the final tactic uses a still-active exploit. Pick your poison, Sole Survivor.

Explore Gameranx’s massive list of guides, how-to’s, secret locations, and everything else a fresh Vault 111 escapee needs to thrive on the Fallout 4 Ultimate Commonwealth Guide and become a true post-apocalyptic survivor.

Uncover everything there is to know about the Contraptions Workshop DLC with all the guides on Gameranx:

How to Earn an Endless Supply of Fallout 4 Crafting Materials

The Contraptions Workshop add-on includes plenty of new automatic crafting options, allowing your Sole Survivor to construct a production line for ammo, weapons, armor, and just about everything else. But, constructing items requires resources. Lots and lots of resources.

Don’t feel like scrounging every inch of the Commonwealth in search for worthless junk that might provide that one extra screw? Here you’ll find three methods to collect huge stockpiles of resources — what to do, where to go, and how to get the junk for scrapping.

Method #1: Vendor Junk – Purified Water Seller

This is the most obvious, straight-forward method for acquiring an endless supply of junk and scrap materials. It is also the most time-consuming, and will require you to own / upgrade all of your settlements, and acquire some strategic perks.

Every vendor in the Commonwealth carries Junk — the Junk tab is filled with random objects that, once broken down, contain all the materials you’ll need for crafting. Placing junk in your Workshop inventory or into Builders will automatically scrap, so all you need is plenty of junk.

The biggest hurdle for this method is money. Cash. Caps. You’re going to need lots of it. Here’s one easy way to keep an endless supply of water and resources going;

To get plenty of resources, start by unlocking these perks as you progress through Fallout 4:
- 6 Points in CHA (Go to 10 for better vendor prices.)
- 2 Ranks in Cap Collector
- 2 Ranks in Local Leader
Establish Supply Lines — While in Workshop Mode, select settlers and turn them into Provisioners. Now they will travel to your other settlements and connect your Workshop Inventory so all earned items will appear in the shared resources pool.
In each settlement, construct Water Pumps, Purifiers, or anything that increases your Water Resource. Make sure you have settlers working these resources.
- Do this for every settlement in your supply line network.
- Try to get the water resources to 100+ — the higher your water, the more excess Purified Water Bottles you’ll earn.
With Local Leader 2, you can establish supply lines and start constructing traders in your settlement. Build a trader (any type, eventually you’ll want an emporium and every type) and assign a settler.
Get 10 Settlements established with 100+ water resources and supply lines. Collect your stockpile of Purified Water, and start selling.
- Travel to Vendors across the wasteland and sell water while buying up junk or resource stockpiles / shipments.
- Traders restock junk supplies every 24 hours. Fast travelling across the wasteland takes time, so if you continue to travel, you should be able to make a loop, grabbing Purified Water and returning to various Vendors.
- If you have your settlement vendors up, you can sell/buy junk from them too. The more junk in the world, the better.
The Purified Water, Cap Collector, and Charisma should all net you enough money to constantly buy all the junk / shipments from vendors.
- Spectacle Island is your best resource farm. Use the wide-open space to fill every inch with Water Purifiers, connecting each to power sources — it’s possible to earn 2,000 Purified Water bottles a day.

For even more junk and resources, follow these settlement tips:

Place 8+ Junk Workbenches in your settlements and assign settlers to them. They’ll constantly collect new junk.
Build 30 Corn, 30 Tato, and 30 Mutfruit plants and assign settlers to collect. This way you’ll have plenty of food and extra resources for constructing an endless supply of adhesive.

That’s all it takes to earn a truly endless supply of money. The vendors you construct in your own settlements can provide all the junk and scrap you’ll ever need too. Now you’re totally self-reliant.

Method #2: Cranberry Island Supply Room

This method require much less effort, but you’ll need the Far Harbor DLC to access it. In the lower southeastern corner of the island, you’ll find a large area called Cranberry Island. There are three power generators you’ll need to repair — using scrap or smarts — and a hidden bunker, you’ll gain a key to this extremely valuable resource.

At the center of Cranberry Island, beneath a structure in Cranberry Island Bog, you’ll find a locked bunker with three lights. Repair the massive generators scattered across the island (there are three of these generators) to open the bunker door.

Inside the bunker, take care of the ghouls and grab the Cranberry Island Supply Shed key. Next, travel to the southern-most point of the island to find the small locked shed that requires your unique key.

The shed itself contains a treasure trove of rare materials. You’ll find: 32 screws, 7 rubber, 10 antiseptic, 17 bags of cement, 12 gears, 4 oil cans, 15 springs, 20 steel, 18 aluminum, 7 cork, 6 fertilizer, 7 acid, 14 asbestos, 10 ballistic fiber, 9 fiber optic, 18 leather, 17 lead, 19 cloth, 15 duct tape, 6 fertilizer, 6 fiberglass.

The supplies will respawn every few days, so return here often to get plenty of extra junk components for crafting.

Check out even more info on our full guide here:

Fallout 4: Far Harbor – Discover the Secrets of Cranberry Island

Method #3: Duping Exploit

If legit methods aren’t your thing, you can always use this simple duping exploit.

Drop the material you want to dupe on the ground.
Press ‘Scrap’ (XBO: [X] / PS4: [Square])
Quickly press ‘Accept’ (XBO: [X] / PS4: [Cross])
Quickly press ‘Store’ (XBO: [B] / PS4: [Circle])

Press these buttons almost one-after-another. Transition from one button to the next by rolling your thumb over the button-pad, or strategically place your fingers to rapidly press the proper keys on PC.

Keep repeating! It makes things easier if you clear your inventory and just keep duping the one resource you want. In ten minutes of exploiting, you can earn a smooth 5,000 of whichever resource you like.

Need more Fallout 4 DLC guides? Check out these Far Harbor secrets, locations, and walkthroughs: