You captcha the lathe ghost image and apply the upgrade.
Now the holopad projects a hologram of the totem that a punch card will create!
This appears to turn the alchemiter into a one stop-shopping hub. You just punch a card, stick it in, and get your item. Nice!
Author commentary: We are making progress. The lathe is completely obsolete now. Next we upgrade the alchemiter with the whole jumper block thing, which...it already has? So really, we're just telling the alchemiter to "build this into yourself as a fundamental part of your structure, rather than as an attachment piece." Got it? Listen, I really, really need you to understand all this. It's so important to me.