Mechanical Components are uncommon crafting materials that you'll need constantly in Arc Raiders. They're required to upgrade your Gunsmith from level one to level two, and you'll burn through them upgrading weapons and crafting gear. This guide covers every method to get them, from reliable crafting to smart looting strategies.

Why You Need Mechanical Components

Your Gunsmith level two upgrade is one of the most important early game goals. Better weapons mean better survival against the hostile drones and robots you'll face topside. Beyond that upgrade, you'll need Mechanical Components for:

Weapon upgrades through the Gunsmith
Crafting the Il Toro Shotgun
Crafting the Burletta
Crafting the Anvil
Crafting Muzzle Brake II
Crafting Extended Medium Mag II

The problem is their uncommon rarity. You can't just stumble across them like common materials, so you need multiple ways to keep your supply steady.

Arc Raiders Workshop with Refiner station — The Workshop is your central hub for crafting and upgrading gear

Crafting Through the Refiner (Your Main Source)

The Refiner is your most reliable way to get Mechanical Components. Once you build it, you can craft components whenever you need them without risking topside runs.

Building the Refiner

You need these materials to install the Refiner in your workshop:

Refiner Installation Requirements

Metal Parts

60 required

Arc Power Cells

5 required (dropped by Arc robots)

The Crafting Recipe

Each batch of Mechanical Components costs:

7 Metal Parts
3 Rubber Parts

Both materials are extremely common. You'll find them everywhere, get them from recycling scrap, and even Scrappy will gather them automatically. This makes the Refiner perfect for beginners since you're not hunting rare drops or fighting over contested loot areas.

Pro Tip

The Refiner also helps manage your Stash. Converting lower tier materials into better components frees up space while keeping the value of your resources.

Recycling Weapons and Mods

Recycling gives you components when you need a few right away or when you've got extra weapons cluttering your inventory.

How Recycling Works

The system is straightforward. Weapons return the same materials used for their upgrades and repairs. Durability doesn't matter at all. A broken weapon gives you the exact same components as one at full durability.

Green (uncommon) weapons always break down into Mechanical Components and Simple Gun Parts. Blue and purple weapons follow the same logic for their respective tiers.

Arc Raiders recycling interface — Recycling weapons returns valuable crafting materials regardless of durability

Recycling Green Weapons

Any uncommon weapon recycles into Mechanical Components and Simple Gun Parts:

Arpeggio
Burletta
Anvil
Other green weapons

You'll typically get 2 Mechanical Components and 2 Simple Gun Parts per weapon, regardless of condition.

Recycling Upgraded Common Weapons

Some upgraded common weapons also give you Mechanical Components. If an upgrade tier required Mechanical Components to craft, scrapping that weapon returns those components:

Rattler III and higher
Ferro IV and higher
Stitcher IV and higher
Other weapons with Mechanical Component upgrade costs

The rule is simple: if you spent Mechanical Components to upgrade it, you'll get them back when scrapping.

Recycling Weapon Mods

Uncommon mods like Extended Light Mag II break down into Mechanical Components too.

Smart Recycling Strategy

Here's how to recycle efficiently:

Start with your lowest durability weapons since condition doesn't affect the yield
Recycle duplicates you don't need
Pick up green weapons during raids specifically for recycling, even if you hate using them
Don't recycle upgraded weapons unless you're desperate. The upgrade investment costs more than you get back
If you kill another raider and loot their uncommon weapons, recycling them gives instant components

Critical Note

Most players ignore certain weapons when looting. Maybe you don't like the Arpeggio or the Burletta. Pick them up anyway. Every green weapon is basically portable crafting materials.

Example: Upgrading the Rattler

The Rattler shows why recycling matters. It's terrible unless you get it to tier three, and tier four is really where it starts performing. At tier four you get 22 rounds, which you need badly since missing shots with lower tiers can get you killed.

Each Rattler upgrade costs Mechanical Components and Simple Gun Parts. By recycling green weapons you don't want, you generate exactly what you need without extra farming runs.

Arc Raiders weapon upgrade interface — Weapon upgrades consume Mechanical Components but dramatically improve performance

Treating Weapons as Materials

Think of green weapons as stacks of Mechanical Components and Simple Gun Parts instead of just gear. This shift in thinking means you'll never leave a topside run without gathering useful resources.

Looting Mechanical Areas

Looting isn't as reliable as crafting, but it's still worth doing. Each map has Mechanical loot areas where components spawn.

Dam Battlegrounds Vehicle Route (Beginner Friendly)

Dam Battlegrounds is your first available map, making it the best place to learn component farming. Focus on the vehicles near the North Complex elevator.

Finding the Vehicles

There's a highway section directly behind the North Complex elevator with lots of vehicles. Not all of them are lootable, though.

Which Vehicles Have Loot

Look for closed hoods. If the hood is down, you can loot it. If it's raised or open, move on. Walk up to the front of any vehicle with a closed hood, breach it open, and check the loot inside.

Each vehicle has a chance to drop Mechanical Components. The rate is random and changes between raids.

Pro Tip

Right next to the North Complex elevator, you'll find two buses. Both buses are lootable every time. They seem to drop Mechanical Components more often than regular vehicles, probably because they count as higher tier loot sources.

Farming the Route

For the best results on Dam Battlegrounds:

Hit the North Complex elevator
Loot both buses first
Work your way up and down the highway
Check every closed hood vehicle
Breach and collect everything

Your total haul varies because of RNG, but a full run should get you a decent stack of components.

Dam Battlegrounds vehicle locations — Dam Battlegrounds features numerous lootable vehicles along the highway

Keeping Your Loot Safe

If you're farming specifically for weapon upgrades, put the components in your safe pouch immediately. This protects them if you die before extracting.

Other Maps: Blue Gate, Spaceport, Berry City

The vehicle strategy works on every map. Find areas with lots of vehicles and use the same closed hood method. Some specific spots to check:

Checkpoint on Blue Gate has great Mechanical Component spawns, but there's heavy Arc presence including a large Bastion
Other Mechanical areas on Dam Battlegrounds beyond the vehicle route

Explore Blue Gate, Spaceport, and Berry City for vehicle heavy zones and apply what you learned on Dam Battlegrounds.

Warning

High-value loot areas like the Checkpoint on Blue Gate attract both Arc enemies and hostile players. Approach these zones with caution and be prepared to fight.

Understanding Loot Areas

Each map has designated Mechanical loot areas. Vehicles are the most obvious source, but these zones include other containers that can spawn components.

Dam Battlegrounds has several low risk Mechanical areas, perfect for your first farming attempts. As you move to other maps, you'll spot similar zones and farm them more efficiently.

Combining All Three Methods

The best approach uses everything together:

Build the Refiner early for steady crafting
Collect Metal Parts and Rubber Parts during every raid
Grab every green weapon you see, no matter what it is
Plan your topside routes through vehicle areas when possible
Recycle your stockpiled green weapons whenever you need components

This keeps Mechanical Components from becoming a bottleneck. The Refiner provides your baseline supply, recycling converts junk into useful materials, and targeted looting adds extra components on top.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Don't Do This

Leaving Green Weapons Behind - Every green weapon is worth 2 Mechanical Components through recycling
Missing Vehicle Loot - If you only check buildings, you'll miss tons of components
Recycling Upgraded Weapons - You lose value doing this unless desperate
Delaying the Refiner - The consistent component production pays for itself fast

Do This Instead

Collect all green weapons for portable materials
Check vehicles in Mechanical areas on every map
Only recycle base or duplicate upgraded weapons
Build the Refiner as soon as possible

Material Requirements Quick Reference

Item	Materials Required	Output
Refiner Installation	60 Metal Parts, 5 Arc Power Cells	One-time setup
Crafting Components (per batch)	7 Metal Parts, 3 Rubber Parts	Variable components
Recycling Green Weapons	Any uncommon weapon	2 Mechanical Components, 2 Simple Gun Parts

Final Thoughts

Mechanical Components might seem scarce at first, but you have multiple reliable ways to get them. New players should focus on building the Refiner and learning the Dam Battlegrounds vehicle route. Once you're comfortable with those basics, start incorporating recycling to maximize your gains from every raid.

The pattern is simple: Mechanical Components come from mechanical sources. Vehicles in the world and mechanical weapons through recycling. Add the Refiner for baseline production, and you'll have enough components for all your Gunsmith upgrades and weapon improvements.