2buy it early
This machine makes exactly one thing, and that thing is asphalt. Asphalt is the fastest ground you can run on, quicker than boots manage on their own, and it is the cheapest way to make a sprawling world feel small. Pave a long flat road between your base and wherever you fight bosses and you will keep using it for the rest of the run.
That makes it one of the first purchases worth making from the steampunker, even though it looks like a niche station. The stone and gel it eats are things you already have in piles. The real cost is the time spent flattening ground before you lay the road down.
For a couple of versions it also turned up as a boss drop by mistake, taking the place of the pet the Eater of Worlds was supposed to give.