Kim,
I am surprised by your response above.
You have always degraded smaller cue lathes as being inadequate in so many ways to your metal lathes that you have. You have said it is the only way to make a cue correctly.
Gary
Yes, the black ring can be turned down - "milled off" as you say
Yes a new brown phenolic ring can be built.
Color match??? that's that's the tough part.
My 2 cents
Gary
In my experience, some players like them trimmed as they feel the tip does play better. Other players say "Don't you dare trim any of that tip off, that's an expensive tip!!"
My 2 cents,
Gary
I was able to find rolling kitchen carts on CraigsList for a substantial savings over new.
The other method I have seen is to hang a wire grid from the ceiling and then hang the wood from that grid using cup hooks. I'm leery of that method as it would seem that the screw of the cup hook might...
Well, as you've noticed from the posts above, there is no performance factor involved, so if 1/16 inch looks good to you and your customer, then yes, you picked the right one.
My 2 cents,
Gary