Scrap metal is a miscellaneous item in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout 3
The ammo press in The Pitt can be used to melt scrap metal down into ammunition. The ammunition returned by the press is greater than the scrap metal input. For example, the press will return one thousand shotgun shells in exchange for five hundred pieces of scrap metal.
Repeatable quests
- The Outcast Collection Agent: scrap metal and various other items can be given to Protector Casdin at Fort Independence in exchange for ammunition, grenades and aid items.
- This Old House: scrap metal can be given to Winthrop at Underworld in exchange for Rad-X, RadAway or stimpaks.
- Walter's Scrap Metal: scrap metal can be given to Walter at Megaton in exchange for caps and experience or, if the player character decides to give Walter the scrap metal for free, positive Karma.
Locations
67 pieces of scrap metal can be found throughout the Capital Wasteland in fixed locations without add-ons. It is usually either found in toolboxes or sold through specific random encounter merchants.
- List of locations
- 20 on shelves in the bunk area of Meresti Metro station.
- 11 spread throughout RobCo facility's factory floor.
- 13 in the robot repair center.
- Tinker Joe can have up to 10 pieces for one bottle cap apiece. He can be found outside in the parking lot of the RobCo facility at certain times of the day.
- Random encounters
- Toolboxes have high scrap metal probability.
- All varieties of robots will usually have scrap metal in their inventory upon death.
- Crazy Wolfgang, scavengers and traders who deal in miscellaneous goods.
Fallout: New Vegas
Much like in Fallout 3, scrap metal in Fallout: New Vegas can be turned in to various non-player characters for unmarked quests. It is also a useful alternative to a higher Repair skill when trying to repair certain objects. It is a necessary component in the crafting of the weapon repair kit. It can also be broken down into 200 units of lead, which is used in the crafting of ammunition at a reloading bench. However, lead is the easiest component of ammunition to get; the primer, powder and casings are all less commonplace.
Related quests
- ED-E My Love: ED-E can be repaired using three pieces of scrap metal and several other objects if the player character lacks the requisite Repair and/or Science skill to do so without parts.
- Iron and Stealing: One option to gain fame with the Boomers, and thus complete the quest Volare!, is to give Jack scrap metal. 50 pieces will give the player character instant "Idolized" status. This unmarked quest stays active even after the bomber is raised.
- Dealing with Contreras: Isaac can be given scrap metal to make ammunition for Contreras. 100 pieces are necessary. However, he will also accept the much more numerous tin cans and bent tin cans instead.
- Not Worth a Hill of Corn and Beans: Five pieces of scrap metal, along with many other supplies, are needed to repair William Farber's food processor in Camp McCarran if one lacks the Repair skill to jury rig it.
Locations
Scrap metal can be found throughout the Mojave Wasteland.
- 28 pieces can be located in the REPCONN test site's basement.
- 16 pieces can be found inside Cerulean Robotics in Freeside.
- 13 can be found in The Divide in or around the wrecked building just outside the entrance to the Ashton silo control station.
- 12 can be found in the wreckage of Dry Wells.
- 10 are located on or around the shelves near the flagpole inside the walls of Camp McCarran.
- Old Lady Gibson located in Gibson scrap yard has a large stock of scrap metal, ranging from 3 to 14 at a time. Her inventory restocks every 72 in-game hours.
- The player character can find plenty of scrap metal throughout Big MT. A lot can be found on enemies, found in containers and sometimes given away by non-player characters.
- There is an abundance of scrap metal located throughout the hangar adjacent to the mess hall & munitions storage. A lot can be found on shelves and containers in the front and back of the hangar.
- 7 pieces can be found inside the shack at Southern Nevada Wind Farm.
- 7 pieces can be found inside Harper's shack.
- 2 pieces can be found next to ED-E in the Nash residence in Primm.
- 2 pieces can be found in Victor's shack.
Crafting
With the addition of the Honest Hearts add-on, player characters are given two options to craft scrap metal from commonly available items. Both recipes are available immediately upon installation of the add-on and can be accessed from any workbench so long as the player character has a Repair skill of 25 or above.
| Name | Skill Requirement | Produced On | Items Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
Scrap metal (Cookery-to-Metal) 
|
Repair:25 | Workbench |
|
| Scrap metal (Meals-to-Metal)
|
Repair:25 | Workbench |
|
The "Meals-to-Metal" recipe calls for the non-metallic variant of the butter knife, rather than the less common metal version.
Behind the scenes
Scrap metal was originally called "spare parts" and was designed to function just like alien epoxy (which was added to Fallout 3 with the Mothership Zeta add-on), but this idea was dropped during pre-production. Evidence of this still remains in the item's internal EditorID: "SpareParts." In The Outcast Collection Agent quest, the speech choice to give scrap metal to Casdin refers them as "spare parts."