Very interesting article and helpful.
I especially liked your pointing out the phonetics kang, yong, tang, gang and wang ( 康，庸， 唐，岡 and 罔) because I am so focused on the meaning alone of components for mnemonics purposes (I have found them more useful so far.)
I pay little attention to the phonetic aspect of the component, which is how native speakers find components useful (but that requires being advanced enough to have learned the components as useful words themselves.) Thanks to this article, I will pay more attention to phonetic patterns.
I don’t know if the breakdown below will help you or others, but in case it does, here goes:
In my head I call 禾 “standing grain” as it refers to grain still on the stalk, and 米 just “rice” although it actually means “husked rice.” The distinction helps with words like 糠 for “bran, husk” as it refers to the processed product instead of the living plant.
I break 岡 into “wide grass mountains” that form a “ridge or hill crest,” and 罔 into “in wide grass perish” within “nets that deceive“ to help distinguish them in words like 綱 and 網。
You have a very advanced vocabulary! I don’t know some of the examples you used, but I did note that Key dictionary in Pleco defines 瀰 not only as “overflowing” but also as “deep water,” and a quick glance at the words it’s found in suggests this meaning is more helpful for remembering, especially as the character contains water 氵 (I love Key dictionary!)
I had a terrible time remembering 專 at first until I discovered the weaving connection ( 叀 ). Then I was able to create the mnemonic “weaving-tile concentrates the thumb in a specialised task”. Once I was able to picture someone bent over this meticulous work with tool in hand, I have rarely forgotten it.
Thanks again for the article!