Definitely read the socket basics and machines pages on the wiki before you try anything. It's a complicated mod, and not one that can simply be understood intuitively. The extra flexibility you get comes with that price. The main thing is understanding how the 3 inventories, tanks, etc. system works, how to set up and configure sockets, and how the machine output works.
Tedyhere also made a great video explaining how these things work, so you should definitely check that out too. I still need to get around to re-writing the OP post and embedding the video.