A footnote to the last post: tried to do a single cylinder as shown in the manual. Installed a Root Bone and three below it. Selected the Root Bone in the Left View and rotated it. The whole cylinder followed smoothly. Undid it, and selected the bottom bone: #3. Assigned a "None" for a constraint. Went up one to #2. Assigned a "Custom/Limited" constraint. When I move the slider button toward either of its limits on the ring, this happens. [note the deformation at the bottom]

I'm thinking that whatever I'm doing wrong is at a very fundamental level.