I want to be able to rig a generator that will charge a battery from basically any motor, without using premade capacitors and resistors. problem is I can't find any how to on making the components themselves, or even what common, nongenerator/motor items I could salvage them from. I'd really like to be able to make them from scratch though. I plan on buying a bunch of bits of various metals and alloys to have on hand, just can't figure out what the components of the components are

The "worst case scenario" motor I want to work with is a 1925 leather sewing machine motor
CAT S.A. 930
No. M 198737
HP 1/5
RPM 1725
Volts 110
Cycles 60
Phase 1
Amps 3.8

Its fairly grease caked and has wood pegs holding the coils, and cardboard grease plates, so I'm going to be tearing it completely apart. probably just use the innards and scrap the behemoth cast iron case, but it does have a neat look and cool little spring brake dealt.

I plan on "powering" the generator via a combo set up of wind, bike, and/or steam power.

Any tips, help, or that's impossibles would be appreciated.
Also any direction on how to home craft a "car battery" or larger even, and the inverter to turn that into houseplugs...
pretty much, I wanna be able to make electricity after the apocalyptic CME fries all the electronics we have.

 

>I wanna be able to make electricity after the apocalyptic CME fries all the electronics we have.

What are you going to use the electricity for?? - All your electronics are fried. Who's going to make new light bulbs for you? Why cook with electricity when a fire does the job better? What radio stations are you going to listen to? (and anyway you'd be better with a clockwork radio).

Honestly, if it gets that bad then electricity is a luxury you can live without.

Anyway, You have an AC motor and a DC battery. That means you need a regulator which means you need capacitors, resistors and diodes. The inverter will need the same. If you exclude those components from your scenario then you'd be much better off going back to 1900's technology and using a DC motor/generator instead. If you've got a steam engine, then it has a governor which can control it's speed and hence the voltage you get. You can do the same with a water turbine by controlling the head pressure with a simple weir. Raid your local bookstore for electrical textbooks if the internet is down

If you want to make batteries you need acid, metal and a chemistry textbook. (Hopefully you can find it at the same bookstore)

Altogether, candles and oil lamps are probably just as effective and easier to make and fix.

On the other had, what you're proposing is an interesting workshop project and a good way to learn motors and generators. The most common example of what you're trying to do is the car alternator/regulator/battery circuit and understanding how this works will pretty much explain everything you need to know. Have fun