[Nate Smith]

One thing to keep in mind during all of this is that the rules do not state "if something causes entanglement, it will be disallowed." Rather, they refer to a RISK of entanglement, meaning "if something MAY cause entanglement, it will be disallowed." While I have seen some confusion in various Q&A regarding the tether/leash/entanglement issue, I think the easiest way to handle this for all the teams is to look at a definition of entanglement and then decide:
Entanglement: To twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl.

So, my "common sense" test for this would be as follows:
-Take the part of your machine that you are concerned about
-Try wrapping it around a 1/2" piece of rod using reasonable force(anything which could break a piece of glass is NOT reasonable force)
-If you are successful, then this part could get entangled in another machine as easily as you wrapped it around that rod, so don't use that design.