Finally took that old timer's advice on conduit bends

Last week, a 30-year journeyman at the supply house told me to stop using my bender that way and try his method. He said I was wasting time by not marking my 30-degree bends with a sharpie first. I gave it a shot on a 100-foot run of 1-inch EMT, and it saved me nearly 40 minutes of rework. Has anyone else had a pro's tip like that actually work out better than what you learned in school?

3 comments

3 Comments

harpery4721d agoOG Member

That old timer probably saved you a whole lot of headache. I spent years fighting with stubborn offsets before a guy showed me to just bend a little extra and pull it back, works way better than trying to hit it perfect on the first try. Sharpie marks are a lifesaver too, especially on those long runs where your memory starts to blur halfway through. It's funny how the simple tricks from the old school guys end up being way more practical than what they teach you in the classroom.

bettyroberts21d ago

My buddy Dave tried for two hours to get a perfect offset once, finally gave up and bent it a bit extra like that old timer said, snapped it back and it was dead on. He still talks about that day like it was some kind of electrical miracle.

pat_fisher2412d ago

Man, that's such a relatable story... I've been there more times than I can count, wrestling with a piece of conduit for way too long. And @harpery47 you hit the nail on the head about those old school tricks... they just work, no matter what the textbook says. I still use a little bit of that bend-and-snap method on tight offsets, saves me a ton of time and scrap.