fallout-4
I've found that my modding sprees almost always end when I run out of adhesive.
I keep adhesive marked as a needed component all the time, and grab every piece of marked junk I see. I also check every vendor for duct tape and the like.
Is there a more reliable way to get adhesive in the quantities I require without cheating?
Actually you can put all your junk directly in your workshop and just leave it there, you never have to pick it back up before crafting.
With all your junk in your inventory, simply interact with your workshop and press the button to "Store all junk" (Y on Xbox controller) and it will automatically store ALL your junk in your workshop. You can then still transfer some back to your inventory if you wish.
Normally this works only for a single settlement (junk/ressources are shared throughout every workshop/crafting station of said settlement) -- the junk is only where you've left it. You can however get "Local Leader" perks which enables you to set up trade routes which allow for sharing junk between settlements.
You're also able to do this from within your inventory on the junk tab by selecting the "Component View" option. This also allows you to remove items from the search list:
Additionally, when you're in Workshop mode and building, if you do not have all of the required component parts to build an item the "Tag for search" option will enable on the bottom menu bar:
This will add the missing items from the item list to the search list and when you hover over an item that scraps into components including the parts on your search list the item name has a magnifying glass next to it.
Best Answer
There are a few other ways of getting adhesive.
At the cooking station, you can make something called Vegetable Starch out of:
This is equivalent to 5 units adhesive.
The best part about this is that the plants are easy to grow and harvest (just use the first few harvests to plant more of them instead of using them up). As for purified water, you can make that out of 3 dirty waters. Also, if you construct a water purifier at your settlement, you will occasionally get purified water deposited into your stash.
Also in the major towns like Diamond City as well as on the roving caravns, the vendors occasionally carry an item called Shipment of Adhesive. This will give you a large quantity of adhesive when bought.