After playing with it for a while, the temporary design ended up pretty worthless.  The string comes out just the same if it's pulled towards the opening.  It might as well be a single piece if they're not welded & 2 pieces only if they're welded.

A few more permanent pieces got painstakingly sized for clothing.  The newest cords are taking a 3.5 ID & .75 opening.  Started building up a collection of used pieces for speeding up the size tests.

Some clothing is down to being worn only 1 more time.

Chafing was a problem with the welding. This led to a new death star design.  The welds went inside grooves. 

The flat design might still be useful when there's no danger of chafing.  It's harder to assemble the death stars.