New Machine Day! Barth Box and Pan Brake

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine offered to buy my Tennsmith box and pan brake for what I paid. It was only a 16ga brake, so I didn't use it much. I happily sold it to him, and began the hunt for a bigger brake.

My great uncle heard I was looking, and offered to sell me his. He bought it in the mid 60's from a hospital maintenance shop that did the duct work with it.

I have never heard of Barth Engineering and Manufacturing, nor have I ever seen another machine of theirs, but it seems well made and has the heft of a lot of other 50's era machines.

Its a fairly stout machine. I know from experience that it will bend 48" of 14ga steel, and my dad has bent 48" of 16 ga stainless on it. The fingers will adjust wider, and I suspect I could get away with shorter widths of 1/8".

I'm excited to have a brake again. Especially one that can bend thicknesses I use often. Now to just find room in the shop...

Nice, looks similar to the English made Edwards I bought a couple of months back, even down to the timber its rolling around on

I agree, nice.

racingtadpole said:

Nice, looks similar to the English made Edwards I bought a couple of months back, even down to the timber its rolling around on

Click to expand...

Yeah, we didn't have a forklift to load it with, so my dad put it on a homegrown dolly to roll it up the trailer ramps.

Once I have a permanent home for it I will remove the dolly. I need to re-arrange a bunch of stuff to get it where I can use it as well as store it.

Hopefully I don't need to anchor it to the floor. I wouldn't think so, but it is somewhat top heavy. Once I use it a bit I'll know better.

Hate to dredge up an older thread but I just picked up a Barth Brake and the previous owner was trying to do something weird with the fingers and cut them loose from the original mounts.
I have a few of the original mounts but unsure if I would be able to reattach them.
Does anyone have literature on these brakes and maybe willing to take some detailed pics for me.

Thanks in advance

32IHmudrunner said:

Hate to dredge up an older thread but I just picked up a Barth Brake and the previous owner was trying to do something weird with the fingers and cut them loose from the original mounts.
I have a few of the original mounts but unsure if I would be able to reattach them.
Does anyone have literature on these brakes and maybe willing to take some detailed pics for me.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

What kind of details do you need? I can take some pictures for you.