Hi Catherine and everyone:

I bought a used Variac on ebay.  It is a Variac brand, and here's everything
it says on the label:  Type W10MT3, Line 120V 50-60 cycles, load 0-140 volts
10 amps.  It's wonderful to use, you can get exactly the suction you want,
and it goes down to nothing (although I don't know enough about electronics
to say that very low suction won't burn out your motor - I  keep the time
short when I'm going very low just in case).  The drawback is that it's
heavy and stationary, but I suppose you could make a wheeled platform for
it.  But with a long Nilfisk cord it isn't really a problem, although you
have to return to the Variac to change the suction.

Hope this helps,

Deborah Bede
Stillwater Textile Conservation Studio, LLC
Bradford NH 03221
(603) 938-2310
(603) 938-2455 fax
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www.stillwaterstudio.org