Let me start off saying I'm sorry if this suggestion has been brought up before. I wasn't sure how to search for it and I was about to read almost 200 pages to find it. If this already a part of GT6, I haven't looked at 6 very much to know and again, sorry.
I had an idea for a new kind of crafting bench designed for GregTech. An Advanced Crafting Bench. The idea is that it's a crafting bench where you can place all of the tools that are needed in crafting recipes. You just place them in the bench and they stay there. Then any recipes that require the tools can remain in their slot while the normal 3x3 crafting takes place and the tools still take their normal amount of damage.
So for example making an iron pickaxe requires the hammer and file (I think that's right). Well with this bench they can stay in their storage slot and the pickaxe can still be made without moving them to the 3x3 area. You could of course have the tools in the 3x3 like normal to still make the item.
Another benefit to this crafting bench is that you can make recipes for items that normally take up the 3x3 but can now require tools. Example the piston, now it can be required to be made in this bench instead of the vanilla bench and it requires the hammer, file and/or screw driver.
Of course if the tool isn't in the tool slot, or in the 3x3 area, the UI can say "<tool(s)> is missing." Maybe have the output shot a ghost of the item as well.
I've toyed with the idea of being able to have it automated some how; pipe items in, auto outputs. But I didn't really care for the idea. Maybe with an even more advanced bench the would require this bench in it's crafting recipe but then also more items that would make more sense for that type of automation.
The recipe to build it I thought might be quite simple. A vanilla crafting bench in the middle, a chest under it and 7 of the crafting GT tools around it. Any 7 of the tools can be used to do recipe to make the Advanced Crafting Bench. The power tools would count as well since there are recipes that allow for either the manual or powered tool. I believe there are some recipes that require only the powered tool, but I could be wrong.
If doing any 7 of the tools, powered or not, would be too hard to code then at least 7 of the ones used the most: hammer, file, screw driver, wrench, saw, wire cutter. That's 6, I'm not sure about the 7th: spade, soft hammer, knife or mortar. Sure. Why not? Give the mortar a slot on the peg board as well.
However it's only tools used for crafting. As far as I know the Scoop and Branch Cutter, and I'm not sure what else besides the normal tools (pickaxe, axe and so on), as they aren't used for crafting.
If you want to make the recipe harder, or even just offer a harder version through the configs, replace the chest for the IC2 toolbox.
I was also thinking in the UI the tools have their specific slot and add a black border around them. The idea being how many home workshops have a peg board with spot for each tool they draw the outline around the tool so people know where it goes. I guess the only problem with that would be in the player puts a powered wrench (or chainsaw or buzzsaw) in the slot where the wrench (saw) would go.
This is one of the few times I truly wish I knew enough of about Java, then maybe I would try writing it and submit it.
I had couple more other ideas, just not sure how well these would go over.
Currently when you get the impure dust it says to throw it in the cauldron to clean it. What about having the impure dust with a bottle of water to clean it as well? You get back the dust and an empty bottle. I know that crafting wise you can't just craft bottles the vanilla way but it's possible to still get bottles early game say from a chest, villager trade or even killing a witch.
I also thought it would make sense to just through the dust into any body of water to clean it.
Last thought I had was with using the saws to cut wood/planks in crafting, shouldn't you also get back some amount of saw dust? Even if it's a small, or tiny, pile of it.
I know I could do that with MineTweaker but it should be part of the mod. Just a thought.
Sorry for the long post.