Hi Bruce,
When its bellow the point where the arrow starts it stops ( i guess this is off). If you increase it half way it starts, but bellow this point it will not start. Well maybe i can not hear it but i can not feel it tense either. When it is half way u can feel the motor tense and start. If you reduce it from half way while its runing or while its off u can decrease the speed till the off point where it stops. Increasing it from this off point does not start the motor again, till u reach half way. You maybe correct about the noise being caused by no load.
Regards
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