Hi Peter

Would the controllers lend themselves to creating a setup with _variable_ speed
- or do they just do 'fast and slow' ?

Totally variable from full speed to very slow - you just need the
original controller boards plus a switch and potentiometer. A couple
of articles in a recent Model Engineering Workshop magazine
explained it all. I made PDF copies for someone in Turkey looking to
do something similar so I can e-mail them if you like. The motors
will, at any speed, not be as quiet as an induction motor although at
low speed they are certainly not noisy.

Oh yes please! - I'd like to see the pdf's.
Noise isn't a major consideration, it's not like a 'tumbler' motor that'll be
running unattended for long periods of time.

Whilst I appreciate that the washing-machine motor may be the 'long way round' - I
guess there's likely to be a lot more of this type 'available' than there will be
'proper' motors.

I guess the scrapyard option is a bit of a lottery as to which machines were
scrapped because of defective motors g... or do they generally 'die' for other
reasons ?

Thanks again
Adrian
Suffolk UK