You may be many things wannabe but confused you are not. Like everything else with worm composting the answers to your questions are "depends".
You can start getting decent quantities of compost out of your flow thru in 3 months or so. I don't push mine because I like it to build up on its own. More cocoons hatch out and fewer worms in the bottom.

If you're tired of throwing away good compostable stuff then get a bin, a bucket or make a little flow thru and some worms and go for it. It's not hard and the worms don't care if they have a fancy house. Keep them dark, comfortable and feed them the right amount and they will reward you.
And if you have questions after you start -- ask. Good luck and tell us when you start.

The bottom paper layer seems to compost away in some areas quicker than others. How long it takes the paper to compost and stuff to start falling has always in my bins been baised on how long it took me to start to poke at the paper to see what was going on.

"THEN, the shear weight / mass of the rotten material keeps the process from falling thru the grates completely. As the material decomposes, it falls thru the grates with worms primarily staying nearer the top of the pile." Yes that is how it is supposed to work. It looks to work that way in huge commercial systems with ground up material added to the top. I am still working to convince my flow through how the process works. Gravity does not seem to work inside my bin. A lot of our posts here are about fine tuning our systems so they will work the way we think they should. When we get it right we can all stop posting.

I like how you analyzed the situation. Please keep us informed of how it works out for you. And help us analyze what is going on in your and our bins.

If you buy worms please weigh them when you get them with out their bedding. That way you will not be wondering later if you really started with a full pound of worms.