dlord, how does that system work with craft patterns? like the OP I've been trying to get the craft pattern to take different items from different sources.. If possible I want a single furnace to be able to make Steel from Refined iron and Coal dust and also make refined iron using calcium carbonate and iron ore. But the craft pattens don't seem to work very well with multiple sided input.. anyone got this working or is it a loss?
At first, I had the same dilemma too. And I was able to workaround that by having 2 ME networks. My primary ME network has my storage and autocrafting, and the GT machine is managed by a separate ME network.
An ME Interface, when you attach a BC pipe to it (gold/stone/cobblestone), ejects the raw materials to the pipe when you request something to be crafted thru that interface. I took advantage of this behavior by having items from the craft pattern eject from the interface into some gold pipes. The pipes lead to an ME chest with a controller attached to it. The controller then exports the relevant items to the proper sides of the machine.
You could avoid having 2 ME networks by using diamond pipes instead, but that also means you have to worry about overflow.
I no longer use this approach, since I have too much resources now. I just setup a new blast furnace controller.