"Moray" wrote: (clip)Another question I have is what is the difference
between reeves variable speed drives and Electronic variable spped drive.
(clip)
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Apples and oranges. Reeves is a mechanical drive that relies on changing
pulley diameters. They work okay, but also have their problems: prone to
slip, prone to stick. If you get a catch that stalls the spindle, you are
very likely to get a broken belt soon after that, due to the heating damage
of a slipping motor pulley.

Your point about the minimum starting speed is important. It is hard to
design a Reeves drive that goes slow enough.

Electronic variable speed comes in more than one variety. It can be done by
clipping the AC sine wave, to reduce the power and thus lower the speed, by
varying the voltage, or by varying the frequency delivered to a three phase
motor.