Variable Speed Mechanism on BP clones

I moved across the country last month to work for a brand new bicycle manufacturing company that is making waves in the carbon fiber segment. They had bought at auction the assets of a Canadian carbon fiber bicycle company that had failed, and in the auction were two BP clones, both 3HP, 575V machines. One was a completely manual machine with an R8 spindle, and the other was originally a CNC knee mill with NMTB40 spindle, but had been de-CNC'ed.

BOTH machines have broken variable speed mechanisms. Obviously, someone had cranked the handles while the spindle was stopped.

What breaks when someone does this? What parts usually need to be replaced or repaired? I assume it's a sprung spring or a broken gear tooth, but this topic is difficult to search in Google.

Secondly, does anyone have any experience with 575V motors? Right now the machines are wired through a 208V-575V step-up transformer the size of a small refrigerator, but it's awkward and I'd like to know if there's a way to wire the motors to work on 208V. I'm assuming the windings are smaller gage wire for low amps/high voltage, but are they really any different inside compared to 208V motors?

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