Russell,
The motor is mounted on a vertically hinged plate that pivots to set the primary belt tension.
It is conceivable that this could be the springboard for a mechanical soft start.
Jerry,
I used Engineers mate, a supplier on ebay but called them directly for a better deal.
I got a 1.1k motor from them and an Invertek inverter rated at 1.5 kw, cost was circa £260 inc delivery.
I avoided going to companies like Transwave, simply because they are overly expensive. ( shout me down anyone...I dont care...)
I previously converted my Chester Eagle 30 using the same motor and a cheaper inverter from ebay.
My large lathe, from SPG tools has had the same treatment as has my Chester 9 x 20 lathe, so conversions of this nature are not alien to me....
The control side of the conversion is straight forward too, but then my techie background does help
shout up if you need any help...