# Conduit bending tips



## CFine (May 20, 2008)

Take your time. the more you rush the more dog legs your gonna get. also Face the object your bending to and look for a straight line or something you can be parallel to this will help you. and really with 3 point saddles i learn that what ever you center measurement is half that for the other too and just be careful. i learned conduit bending is take your time(but don't be molasses slow) and do it right the first time. i'm sure if you take your time within reason, make the correct measurements and keep yourself straight on the bends you'll be fine.


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

Being careful to line up your conduit in the bender is the key to avoiding doglegs, but they do still happen from time to time. What I do is lay the conduit on the ground so that the dogleg causes the pipe to arch up at the bend. Then I pull up on the end of the conduit a little. This will take care of most doglegs.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

I don't know why, but if I bend saddles in the air it's easier for me to line em up, than on the ground. I sight it until it's dead on - wiggle it back and forth while lining up by sight, then bend once. I've tried marking all the way down the pipe - but it doesn't seem to help me to get it any better than by eye.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

Use your own bender so you don't get stuck with one that has a twisted shoe. A bad shoe will give you a dogleg every time.


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## 76nemo (Aug 13, 2008)

Keep your eye on the stub up and your handle, if you can't tell when your stub up is plum, you have a bigger issue.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

One of the easiest errors to be made when bending conduit is not keeping a positive pressure on the conduit in between handle strokes. If you don't, it can slightly rotate under its own weight.


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

The best thing I can tell you is the more you do it the better you get.


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

It's good to know how to put all of your bends in one pipe, but in terms of real world applications, sometimes it's easier, and faster to break something like that up into 2 pieces.

As far as dog legs, as Riveter said, constant pressure when you're picking your pipe and bender off the ground, etc. It doesn't take much for the pipe to shift. Make sure you got proper levels, I've seen guys use 2 if it needs to be spot on.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Be careful when you got a long stick of conduit in the bender. Nothing sucks more than whacking that one thing that doesn't react well to being hit with a piece of conduit, or smacking your co-worker. :no:

Possibly not quite the tip you were looking for but it's important.


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

Frasbee said:


> It's good to know how to put all of your bends in one pipe, but in terms of real world applications, sometimes it's easier, and faster to break something like that up into 2 pieces.
> 
> As far as dog legs, as Riveter said, constant pressure when you're picking your pipe and bender off the ground, etc. It doesn't take much for the pipe to shift. Make sure you got proper levels, I've seen guys use 2 if it needs to be spot on.


 
So you can bend conduit BUT....you blame the wire nuts for causing your ****ty connections.......Apprentices...What ya gonna do with em?:jester:


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

jwjrw said:


> So you can bend conduit BUT....you blame the wire nuts for causing your ****ty connections.......Apprentices...What ya gonna do with em?:jester:


:lol: Poor frasbee isn't going to live that down is he.


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## Article 90.1 (Feb 14, 2009)

Try to use the weld seam of the conduit as your guideline.


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## nitro71 (Sep 17, 2009)

Bring a box of couplings : ) Gitter done and make the company some money. Honestly it's just practice and sticking to basic techniques.


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## Mike in Canada (Jun 27, 2010)

nitro71 said:


> Bring a box of couplings : )


 I agree. Sometimes you're going to make a 90 in the wrong direction or something like that. Cut the pipe, throw in a coupling, and keep moving. It's a lot cheaper than agonizing over the bending in the hopes of getting it 'perfect'. As you get better and more experienced you'll get longer runs without couplings, but at least at first a few extra couplings can save an hour of work over the course of a day. Couplings are cheap.

Mike


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## RyanB (Jul 14, 2009)

I use this level on most of my bends. Saves me the trouble of being off by a few degrees and having to touch up the bend after.


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## Charlie K (Aug 14, 2008)

Heres a little trick I have seen. lay the pipe on a flat surface and mark the sides of the conduit with a grease pencil or crayon. Your marks should each be directly across from each other. Mark the center of the bending hook on the bender. 
Make your first bend with the two marks lined up. When you make the second bend of the offset line up with the mark on the opposite side of the conduit. Works with offsets and saddles.

Charlie


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

When it comes to actually installing pipe, remember...... it's like a game of chess, and the building is your opponent. You need to think 10 moves ahead or your opponent will win.


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

Jlarson said:


> :lol: Poor frasbee isn't going to live that down is he.


It made the rest of my time there a living hell.

Didn't matter how many tricks I pulled out my sleeve.


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## Mike_586 (Mar 24, 2009)

Jlarson said:


> :lol: Poor frasbee isn't going to live that down is he.


I missed that one :001_huh:


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Mike_586 said:


> I missed that one :001_huh:


Here, enjoy;

http://www.electriciantalk.com/f8/embarassed-myself-splices-came-apart-16230/

I keep the link on my clipboard :laughing::jester:


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

Mike_586 said:


> I missed that one :001_huh:


In a nutshell, a few of my splices I was told just "popped out" of their wirenuts and apparently shook my new (now ex) bosses' confidence in me.


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

Jlarson said:


> Here, enjoy;
> 
> http://www.electriciantalk.com/f8/embarassed-myself-splices-came-apart-16230/
> 
> I keep the link on my clipboard :laughing::jester:


What gets me, is later on, the electrician I was paired up with saw me using those little yellows on a 12 splice (after I received my lecture), told me I should never use those because they're too small, and gave me some red ones. :blink:

Then later on, we had some can lights to terminate, and I was going to, as he said, use the larger, red wire nuts (12 awg again), and he told me no, I have to use the yellow wire nuts.

That's alright, I saw some of their pipe work, it was horrendous. :thumbup:


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Frasbee said:


> What gets me, is later on, the electrician I was paired up with saw me using those little yellows on a 12 splice (after I received my lecture), told me I should never use those because they're too small, and gave me some red ones. :blink:
> 
> Then later on, we had some can lights to terminate, and I was going to, as he said, use the larger, red wire nuts (12 awg again), and he told me no, I have to use the yellow wire nuts.
> 
> That's alright, I saw some of their pipe work, it was horrendous. :thumbup:


Us JW's can be odd sometimes.


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

Jlarson said:


> Us JW's can be odd sometimes.


Careful now, I use the word "electrician" loosely here.

Anyway, parallel offsets, and concentric bends are something I need practice with, but typically these kinds of projects have been reserved for the journeymen. Usually when it's going to be exposed and they don't want waste time teaching the helpers how to do it.

http://www.porcupinepress.com/_bending/TheoryAndDrawings.htmhttp://www.porcupinepress.com/_bending/ParallelBends.htm

Typically with parallel offsets I'll bend and cut the extended pipe, just because it's faster for me, since I haven't memorized shrinkage to put it to practice.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Frasbee said:


> Careful now, I use the word "electrician" loosely here.
> 
> Anyway, parallel offsets, and concentric bends are something I need practice with, but typically these kinds of projects have been reserved for the journeymen. Usually when it's going to be exposed and they don't want waste time teaching the helpers how to do it.
> 
> ...


So your saying they got comm. construction electricians that can't bend EMT and the knock you for some bad splices?


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

Jlarson said:


> So your saying they got comm. construction electricians that can't bend EMT and the knock you for some bad splices?


Nah, they were mainly residential. There was this mansion that had some conduit ruins in their service hallways, and some of the exposed pipe was poorly installed.

One thing I've learned in this trade so far...it's not really so much learning the trade, as it is learning the shop, or the boss you work for. Some things don't always carry well from one shop to another.

I spent most of my time trying to figure out how _they_ worked, rather than doing what I knew to be tried and true.


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## Nildogg (Jul 29, 2010)

:thumbsup:


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## danickstr (Mar 21, 2010)

this is what i got recently


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## Steve W (Dec 18, 2008)

something i do is carry a piece of #12 solid in my bag, if i am confused on how to make a bend i bend the piece of wire so i can visualize how i will make the bends


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## User14727 (Sep 2, 2010)

I use the line on the pipe or the stretch marks or whatever they are. If its important i will take a carpenter's pencil with a long lead and run it laying flat on the floor down the length of pipe(laying flat on the floor too) for a foot or so. Gives you a nice straight line to line up in the bender. Do both sides if ya wanna go crazy.


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