Does this work with other mods?

Generally yes but there are a few potential issues:

• Mods that load after this one will still have their items able to be crafted
• This mod disables all items. If a mod adds an item that can only be crafted by hand, it will essentially lock out that item.

Can I force an item to be still able for manual crafting?

As a player, no. As a mod author, yes. Add your item into the ayras-no-crafting-challenge category. To make this in a robust manner, make my mod an optional dependency of yours, then check if the mentioned category exists (or detect my mod by other means).

Can I switch away from solar?

Yes. Check the mod settings when you create a map. You can replace the solar setup with a steam setup.