That's a very cool idea and it might work great. You moved the point of flexing in front of the tool which would have similar effect as above I would think. Obviously a change in flex position is not the different between tool 1 and 2. I still feel that moving the point of pivot or flex is helps this type tool work better and yes, I think the first tool was close to not working and there is a slight difference between them. A few observation: The second tool works on smaller stock and or when the lathe is in back gear (very slow). If you are in the US I can ship you the first two if you want... you can keep them. One more idea I had was weld and extension on to the arm that flexes and add a weight. I think resonance is huge with any cutoff and this would change the frequency.