# Paging the Conduit Whisperer



## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

to the aid of a "not much of a conduit bender"!

I've never had to bend much conduit, just some 90's, box offset, minor stuff. Always had someone that could and wanted to bend it so I never tried much. Now I have to bend some exposed stuff and want it to look decent anyway.

Picture a block wall, now picture a 4" board around the top of the wall with exposed trusses/rafters up above, the board is 3/4" thick
There will be a 4" sq box mounted on the board at the top and conduit (EMT) down to another 4" sq box. The lower box is mounted directly to the block wall. This makes the top box stick out 3/4" farther than the lower box.

I need to make offsets at the top and bottom but since the top sticks out farther I'm not sure exactly how to do this and be consistent. There will be about 9 of these around the wall and they need to look the same.

So starting at the top box, how far should the conduit stick out of the shoe for the first bend?

What degree bend is needed for the 3/4" extra at the top?

I know how to do a regular box offset but since the top is different how do I make the bottom one look good.

So same questions..
how far past the shoe does the conduit need to extend for 1st bend for lower box?

Degree?

Anything else I need to know but failed to ask.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

Too little information.

Picture ?


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## Service Call (Jul 9, 2011)

I wouldn't bother with the box offset on the 4 inch board just extend the conduit down and then offset 1 1/4 inch back to the block wall. The stub out at the end of the shoe with a 4 inch wide board should be no more than 2" from the end of the shoe. 

Then a standard box offset at the bottom with the conduit end even with the end of the shoe. 

It really doesn't matter where you put the pipe, as long as it's uniform with the rest of the pipes you bend.


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## Bird dog (Oct 27, 2015)

Bender guide:

https://idealind.com/content/pdfs/guides/conduit_bender_guide.pdf


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## backstay (Feb 3, 2011)

Service call has it. If you offset the 3/4 in, then box offset, it will look like hell. Just offset once on each end. Best to use some scrap to get it right, then make them all up with those measurements.


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## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

backstay said:


> Service call has it. If you offset the 3/4 in, then box offset, it will look like hell. Just offset once on each end. Best to use some scrap to get it right, then make them all up with those measurements.


Got me a whole bundle of "scrap" (it will be) to practice on.:whistling2:


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

how far away are the upper and lower boxes? could make a huge difference looks -wise.oh, and i dont whisper, i YELL at it


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## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

papaotis said:


> how far away are the upper and lower boxes? could make a huge difference looks -wise.oh, and i dont whisper, i YELL at it


About 5 miles from my house!


























:jester:







Bout 5'


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

well then, service call called it!


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

Those types of offsets are too small to really nail down a "formula", you kind of have to just do it by feel. Box offsets tend to be in the 1/4" - 3/8" range, so if the top box is sitting on a piece of 3/4" material, that means your top offset will be about 1" - 1 1/8". I always make my box offsets with about 1" of pipe protruding past the shoe for the first bend; if you have the pipe flush with the shoe end it tends to ovalize. Anyway if you try a couple you should be able to get a feel for it. You could even cut up 9 five foot lengths, then do all the upper offsets at once, then all the lower offsets. Easier to keep it consistent if you're not alternating the offsets, then you can really get in the groove.


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## IndridCold (May 1, 2015)

2 finger box offsets. 2 fingers @ 10* will give u roughly a 1 inch offset. So on and so forth


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## nownojin (Jan 12, 2015)

2 times the height of your obstruction will give you distance between bends for a 30 degree bend angle , for every inch of offset height 1/4" of shrinkage occurs with a 30 degree bend angle.

you measure from bottom to bottom. say you have a wall that meets a block with a 4 inch height difference. You would measure from your coupling or FS box (starting point) to the obstruction (4" high block) its 40 inches away from your coupling. So your shrinkage would be 1/4" per inch of rise at 4 inches that is 1 inch of shrinkage. Your new mark A adjusted for shrinkage would be 41 inches. 2 times the height would be 8 inches in between. Mark B would be at 33 inches. bend mark B to 30 degrees , spin the conduit 180 degrees and move to mark A so the bends are on the same plane (dog leg bad) bend mark A 30 degrees measure from bottom to bottom to check for 4 inch offset.

Ibend pipe for IPHONE , conduit bender ELITE for DROID. guys use phone apps that work really good as well!


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## Anathera (Feb 16, 2016)

If you are doing a fair bit they make a bender that only does box offsets for certain pipes, don't know itd be worth it for this job but it was dead useful for our new guys on that black out ceiling


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Anathera said:


> If you are doing a fair bit they make a bender that only does box offsets for certain pipes, don't know itd be worth it for this job but it was dead useful for our new guys on that black out ceiling


Greenlee #1810 (1/2") and #1811 (3/4") Little Kicker benders are just for box offsets. They run @ $200.


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

I got one! I suck at bending.


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

nownojin said:


> 2 times the height of your obstruction will give you distance between bends for a 30 degree bend angle , for every inch of offset height 1/4" of shrinkage occurs with a 30 degree bend angle.
> 
> you measure from bottom to bottom. say you have a wall that meets a block with a 4 inch height difference. You would measure from your coupling or FS box (starting point) to the obstruction (4" high block) its 40 inches away from your coupling. So your shrinkage would be 1/4" per inch of rise at 4 inches that is 1 inch of shrinkage. Your new mark A adjusted for shrinkage would be 41 inches. 2 times the height would be 8 inches in between. Mark B would be at 33 inches. bend mark B to 30 degrees , spin the conduit 180 degrees and move to mark A so the bends are on the same plane (dog leg bad) bend mark A 30 degrees measure from bottom to bottom to check for 4 inch offset.
> 
> Ibend pipe for IPHONE , conduit bender ELITE for DROID. guys use phone apps that work really good as well!


That's all well and good, but the OP is talking about a short pipe with a box offset at one end and a 1" offset at the other. Both of those are too small to be thinking about a 30 degree bend. As I said above, one would be wasting time worrying about a formula for bends this small, it is all about feel.

And it's pretty easy to learn to bend a box offset. I see no need to drop $200 on a cheater bender.


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## gnuuser (Jan 13, 2013)

papaotis said:


> how far away are the upper and lower boxes? could make a huge difference looks -wise.oh, and i dont whisper, i YELL at it


or swear at it in different languages:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## freeagnt54 (Aug 6, 2008)

For easy repeatable box offsets that look perfect with a bit of practice. 

Bend the offset in the air
1. Hang the pipe out of the front of the shoe one index finger width
2. Bend it a C hair (you should barely feel it bend)
3. Slide the pipe down a foot or two, roll the pipe 180 and look straight down the pipe make sure it's not going to dog leg
4. Carefully slide it back up until you have the width of four fingers plus the original index hanging out of the front of the shoe
5. Give the same amount of bend.
6. Then take it out rotate it 90 degrees and check to make sure its not open or closed, make a quick adjustment as needed.


When typed out it seems like a lot of steps and work but once you have it down it takes about 15-30 seconds. I teach all the guys working under me this method and it works out pretty damn well, anyone of us can easily match each others box offsets.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

These are down and dirty for box offsets and take far less time than bending your own kicks if you don't do them often.


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## Monkeyboy (Jul 28, 2012)

A bit restrictive when pulling through.


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## zac (May 11, 2009)

MechanicalDVR said:


> These are down and dirty for box offsets and take far less time than bending your own kicks if you don't do them often.


That's borderline hack! 
Use this








I get hassled by old timers using it but I only bend pipe once! 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


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## Monkeyboy (Jul 28, 2012)

zac said:


> That's borderline hack! Use this I get hassled by old timers using it but I only bend pipe once! Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


Awesome tool. Great on a lift.


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