As to question 2
I just looked it up in Sutherland's a few days ago. There are like 4 pages listing all the spindle lengths. Generally the thin cup spindles are about 4mm longer between the bearing races.
The thick cup have a grooved edge to keep out dirt. The thin cup walls are pretty think. Like a mm thick.

There are a bunch of Sutherland's in PDF form on the net, and I think if you search there is a link in some BF thread.