Thanks, Mike! Did my photos come through of the stitches, by the way? Regarding #2 and 3... CRUD, I fear timing.
Regarding #1; no there are no lurches; just a fair amount of buzz at the beginning, then once she gets going, a very slow start altogether, and never fully goes fast.
Now, when you say there are two strips of copper which bridge; do you mean the copper strips which receive the screws to attach the wires; they are meant to bridge with the copper part of the foot controller which moves as one depresses the pedal? If so, I may not have it calibrated properly; when full-pedal-pushed, the movable part of the rheostat does not contact those two copper pieces. Should they? Thank you in advance! Would you like me to post a photo to be clear, or was the description clear enough?