bucknast:
If one wanted to simply control the start/stop/speed of an AC motor with an arduino, how would you do it?
Honestly, I'd buy an appropriate suitable controller. It's such old technology that there are hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of products. If there was some very -specific- requirement that -no- one had already made then I'd have to DIY, but I seriously doubt that'll ever-ever happen on any topic. Heck I could build any Arduino from scratch becaue it's all open source software/hardware, but it's not worth it because there are so many varieties that it's time/effort unnecessarily spent that I could use doing other things.
I don't have real life experience with even moderately higher power motors. On a personal level I don't like messing with anything over 12V. Mainly because I'm all self taught, and also because I've seen enough bad designs and bad wiring explode and hurt people. I know when to not mess around with topics a couple of pay grades higher than my 'lack of qualification.' I can build any of these things, but I can't design them.
Sometimes I know -more- about what I -don't- know about, than I actually know a lot about. Meaning I know enough to know that I don't know much.