The idea for this is that all assembling machines have an alterative to the following recipes that allows the player to make the recipes in bulk and for cheaper by adding 500C+ steam to the crafting recipe with a water byproduct:

iron plate to gear
steel to gear
copper to wire
iron plate to stick
steel to stick
low density structure (maybe, not too sure on this one)

Perhaps this idea could be carried over to Space Age with Plasma cutting thrown in as well (yes you'd probably need an extra mod or two to get the most use out of it but I'd think it could still work).