I'm another "total newb" here, but that design looks (to me anyway) very similar to those washing machine motors that people are using for wind gennys. I've been working in the industrial maintenance field for over 10 years now, in many different venues including machine tools, but I haven't run across one, yet. I'd like to get ahold of one though, I'd bet they would work pretty good as a generator!
"You intrigue me with this machine, Senor..."
Cheers!
BrianH