After a lot of floundering, determined a reasonably effective way of desoldering thru-hole components. Insert the board inverted in a vice and heat them up while pushing the exposed pin down thru the hole. A solder wick is useful to remove the bulk of the solder before attempting to push the leads thru.
Manufactured the CH224K Breakout. It's mostly finished. The connections have been tested with a multimeter and are sound. The PCB was etched with ferric chloride and then drilled. The CH224K was then soldered to the Board. 
The rightmost breadboard was replaced and all of the components were replaced into another breadboard. The encoder section of the circuit (leftmost breadboard) had 10k resistors removed and the signals from the encoder had more fidelity. The encoder signals were routed to the 74LS00 (which acts as an isolation to the MCU and an inversion) and the output of those are connected to the Atmega328P. The Code was then updated and we have a visible reading from the seven segment displays. But not everything is working. The Segment displays do not output a live reading from the enocder very well. 
Designed a stackable case to contain various electronics for prototyping. The idea is that these small containers can be stacked on top of eachother on a desk, or shelf. 
Designed a Resistor Holder for convenience when prototyping on a breadboard. It's easier than opening a plastic bag to get the resistors. 
Took a AI generated Company quiz on the Max7219 Datasheet found here: https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/max7219-max7221.pdf Achieved satisfactory results. This was done to demonstrate competency (if not mastery) over the max7219 segment driver chip.
Read 62 pages of Computer Organization and Design 5th Edition by Patterson and Hennessy. And Read 38 pages of Microwave and RF Design Radio Systems volume I 3rd Edition by Michael Steer.
Got bit-banged I2C working on the ch32v003, which was a massive headache, around 800 bytes in the binary. Still way easier than using the built in I2C peripheral. And it allows use of any pins, which is good. Also realized that the WCH LinkE programmer can provide 5V as well as 3.3, which is very good to know. 
Created the ex04_adc and ex05_pwm ch32v003 template assembly programs. Updated the documentation entry in the microcontroller sandbox.
Concepted out Hackaday contest entry, a gravity powered curtain opener/closer. Designed four simple components in 3D that allow weights tied to the center hole of the -005 components to sequentially slide out of a carriage assembly and thereby draw the curtains opened and closed. The -007 slider is connected either to some servo or a bimetallic strip. As it slides inside the -008 channel, at either extreme, it makes an opening for the next -005 sliding component to fall by gravity out of the carriage. A frame will be necessary to hold the -008 and -006 components in relative position, as well as the motion input system. 