I posted about this in another thread, inquiring about the alloys involved, gave it a test and it looks to weld just fine, so I figured I'd get started on a project thread.

Imagine a beat to hell, 30 year old portaband. Greasy, grimy, chipped rattlecan, etc. I say imagine because in my haste to start, I didn't get a good pic of it as it arrived. Neighbor gave it to me thinking I could make some new parts to repair it, he was tired of messing with it.
Here's a pic from disassembly, the rest of it was just as nasty as this area under the drive wheel:



So the main problem was a loose screw on the idler wheel shaft. Once I saw I could easily fix that, I started tearing it down with the intention of fully rebuilding and refreshing it. BOTH ends turned out to need welding, three pieces total, three crack repairs and one rebuilding of a missing piece.

Sandblasted cover on idler end, this is the part the tensioning lever goes through and the handle attaches to:



Outer corner crack



Crack at the base of the bearing boss the tensioner goes through, it's about 3/4 the way around





Looks like it took a fall to the side, this is where the blade runs through on the idler end





And the BIG repair I tore it down for (might as well fix the rest and paint it while I'm at it, right?)

I need a new cord and new tires, but short of that and a snap ring, it looks like everything else is salvageable. Should have the weld pics up in a day or two depending on how my Ar holds out, down to about 400psi on a 125cuft bottle with a slider in first. Oh, and just my luck, the slider is cast aluminum too...