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This is, no-doubt, my most asked for topic to do an episode. “Do an episode on bending conduit” they say….”It’ll be fun” they say… Well my friends, strap in, here we go….

First off there are some things to understand about different types of conduits. For example today we’re going to be bending EMT (Electrical Metallic Tubing). This type of conduit is relatively easy to bend using a bender if you’re bending 1/2”, 3/4”, or 1”. Once you get to about 1 1/4” and up this type of conduit requires a larger bender, and a lot of ass behind the person bending it. Normally in this situation a company will use a “Chicago Bender” or an “Machine Bender” (which is normally either electric, pneumatic, hydraulic) See below:

In our example we’re going to be dealing with 1/2”, 3/4”, and 1” EMT. This is the easiest conduit to bend, so for those of you practicing at home – choose 1/2” EMT to start with before moving up to 3/4” or 1” as the ease of use makes the understanding go further.

Understanding The Bender

First thing we talk about is understanding the bender. There are tons of little lines, marks, and numbers on the shoe of a conduit bender, and knowing which one does what is half the battle. To start off, every bender has stamped in it what type of conduit the bender is designed to be used for. A 1/2” bender will say “1/2” EMT Only” or something similar – usually located where the shoe meets the threaded end of the handle. If you flip the bender around 180 degrees, in the same spot there will be a stamp for what size takeoff you’ll need to use to achieve the proper bend with this bender.

Next are the lines that say 10, 22.5, 30, 45, and 60 next to them. These are your angles of bend radius. To bend a 30 degree angle with a conduit bender, you bend the pipe up from the ground until the 30 degree line on the bender is parallel to the pipe and floor. You would flip the bender over and repeat this step if you were trying to bend a 30 degree offset to overcom

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