Mama...I applaud your effort. Here's something I just purchased with the same intentions of use...I've not tried it out yet, but in theory, it should work:
http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/...mer/SHG4-BR213
I also wrote the company owner and suggested he add as an "additional use" item the foot pedal. I was the one who contacted him and asked him to "test" these two pieces of equipment in tandem - apparently an idea that hadn't occurred to him previously. In essence, with the foot pedal attached, you'd be able to choose speed using the light pressure for very slow turning, and because it's a keyless chuck, it would be easy to remove the mandrel and pop it into the kiln without risk of it cooling down too much while you fiddle with tape and such.
Just thought, since you asked, I'd toss my suggestion into the thread. I won't have time to give this a go for a while, but I'm purty sure it's gonna work awesome!
And if nothing else, I can use it to clean my beads as it's intended to be used - pffttt!
De