Many thanks for your response but I have removed the original starter from the saw whilst I was refurbishing it as it was fitted in 1968 when the saw was manufactured and was fitted with a 415v coil and associated thermal overloads. My intension all along was to fit a variable frequency drive as I haven't got a conventional 3 phase supply and knew that the drives have a soft start/stop facility so all the original electrics were removed. All I did was to change the straps on the 6 pole motor from star to delta thus allowing me to run it from a 230v single phase supply. So unfortunately I can't do as you have suggested in your response to my initial query but thanks anyway for taking time to assist.