Hallelujah!

Perhaps for the first time ever all 5 optical limit sensors on this printer were lit and stayed lit even in the face of some cable jostling! The three plastic toothpicks broken off as shims into the JST wire sockets seem to have stabilized the socket and the bumpy Swingline rubber finger glove I inverted, cut the tip off of, slit lengthwise, wrapped around the cables at the exit from the case and ziptied seem to have firmly prevented any further tugging from pulling on the internal cable connections from the outside. I might also stabilize the outside to prevent pushing in, even though that should be far less likely to stress the internal connections.

I know I am not out of the woods yet but I also don't believe that there is any reason for pessimism at this point. When I get my extruder it seems I should have reasonable odds of getting some good prints and finally obtain confidence that this printer will be a fine keeper!