so if i have already scavenged everything at a settlement, is it now pointless to put a SS there? i got so many settlers with nothing to do.

the way i understood it was that scavenging stations produce junk, no? Regardless of "free" junk around? I dont think they "use up" that existing junk but produce it out of "thin air"?

i thought when i assign a settler to it, the settler goes around the settlement and scavenges the stuff, like old beds, light posts, a junked house perhaps? i did not think it generated stuff.

The scavenge stations are definitely to produce a small amount of random junk daily. The person assigned to the station will not go around cleaning up the settlement, unfortunately. Where exactly the settler is getting the random junk from....I'm thinking he's pickpocketing Trashcan Carla.

Them walking around banging on walls is just an animation, the other animation they do is patrol the streets brandishing weapon. the station will automatically add junk to the workshop how much and how often I do not know.

No, settlers assigned to the station scavenge stuff out of the air.

Also they look neato cause it helps the junk yard atmosphere.

so can i assign more than 1 settler to the SS? in effect, generating more junk?

Idle Settlers that are not assigned to do a task will scavenge. The stuff they get is random and comes from "thin air" as far as mechanics go. The scavenger station increases the amount of stuff someone will scavenge over the "base" amount of a idle settler. The stuff you have to manually collect in a settlement is not effected by this, and must be gotten by the player.

You can assign one per station, but can make as many stations as you want. I have 3-4 in some settlements, and after we get the 1.3 patch I'll make them for all "unassigned" settlers.

Just fyi, the settlers don't scavenge stuff out of "thin air". They are scavenging stuff exactly the same way you do - by going around and picking it up. Same with traders like Trashcan Carla.

By thin air, I just mean they don't go to a resource spot and collect it (I.E. you will not see stuff removed from your settlements) but they do a animation of them working on stuff, and after a hard days work of banging on a house or using a blowtorch on something they have collected some junk.

Scavenge stations don't seem help that much in terms of getting resources. I use them just to get settlers assigned, since the number of unassigned settlers affects how likely you get new settlers.

Do more stations help, or is it just so they will look busy? I had the impression that only the first one functioned.

I'm just going by the wiki, but it says the more stations you have the more junk you will get.

unassigned settlers do the animations of random jobs, but as far as I have seen or heard here, they do NOT contribute. I have proven this myself when assigning an "unassigned" settler already working a crop to that crop, the number of food rises to meet what the settler can do (6 food) as long as the food is planted already.
So, I would assume the same applies to scavengers.
And a Wiki is only as good as the editors controlling the content and verifying it's sources. Anyone can contribute, but that doesn't make it true until it is verified.

Good explanation. Settlers with an assigned task are happier, so for example: if I have 20 settlers, with 4 tending the crops and 1 on Provisioner duty, then the other 15 each have their own Scavenging Station. Each one gives you a few random items every day, and across many settlements it really adds up. I don't hesitate to use settlers for other stuff, like running a store, but everybody that's not busy doing other stuff is on scavenging duty. Fine me some oil, people!

OK, did some research, and it seems it has been tested by the community that the scavenging stations add 3 items each every 24-48 game hours.

I have I think 18 settlements with an average of 15 settlers each. I built one scavenging station at each one. Which means, tonight, I will go to each settlement and build more stations.

Sounds tedious, I wonder if I can pay my wife to do it for me...