miriam

It has a motor - bigger than your washing machine motor. It has a belt. The belt goes on a pulley. That is about it - no internal wiring on those machines. The light would be an add on. I would look at the wires - if nothing is frayed, I'd plug it in and turn it on with one hand on a circuit breaker. See if any sparks fly out of it I guess. There are places that overhaul motors. Just un-hook it and haul it in to a place. They can clean it up if nothing else. You can kind of look and see how gunky it looks. There isn't a whole lot to the wiring system on them. Other than that, I don't know how you tell if the motor is ok or not on those big honkers. Maybe Joe knows.
edit: there might be a switch on the table - wiring run from the motor to the switch - check that.