After a month of working on this, I finally figured it out. The short answer is, EVERYTHING that is dynamically resized must be a sub-COMPONENT, NOT a sub-GROUP. If sub-groups are used, any copies of the original component which are resized will screw with any other copies.
I'm trying to create the simplest dynamic component I can to learn how dynamic components work, but I'm having a couple issues which I simply cannot figure out.
I've drawn a four sided drawer. Each side is made of three components/groups. The center section stretches when scaled on X and Y and the ends are constrained in size. When scaling on Z, the ends repeat and the center section scales. It looks great and works well, except:
Biggest issue: Scaling one component affects another copy of the component, even if they are made unique. Why?!?
Secondary curiosity: I'd like the drawer to be able to be resized either using the scale tool or the component options panel. If one uses the Component Options panel, it eliminates the formula for the LenX/LenY/LenZ which rounds the drawer to the nearest 1/8" dimension. Is there a way to retain the scaling formula when using the component options panel?
Is there an example I should study? (I've been studying the fence example, but it hasn't helped.) I don't know why what I've drawn doesn't work.