Bending Electical Conduit

First things first! Bending electical conduit by hand is so over rated it's not even funny. I cannot count how many times I have come across a very qualified fire alarm technician to find that he/she cannot bend low voltage conduit. It blows me away that these technicians have been in the industry for 10 plus years and never took the time to learn the art of bending electrical conduit.

To start I recommend going to your local wholesale house or Home Depot and buying a couple bundles of both 1/2" and 3/4" EMT (electrical metallic tubing). They do not cost much and this will give you the ability to practice in your back yard at your own pace. Second you will want to buy a quality ½” and ¾” electrical conduit bender along with a good no dog level. These levels can screw directly to the end of the conduit to help eliminate dog legs commonly found when bending offsets and saddles in low voltage conduit.

Now become familiar with your conduit bender. There are 4 main features on the bender itself.

(1) Arrow: To be used with stub, offset and outer marks of saddle bends.
(2) Rim Notch: Locates the center of a saddle bend.
(3) Star-Point: Indicates the back of a 90 degree bend.
(4) Degree Scale: For offsets, saddles and those special situations.

Steps to remember:

(1) Measure your job
(2) Mark your conduit using the recommended tables
(3) Use your low voltage conduit bender’s engineered marks

Don’t Forget:

(1) When bending on the floor, pin the conduit to the floor. Use heavy foot pressure.
(2) When bending in the air, exert pressure as close to your body as possible.
(3) In case you over bend, use the back pusher or the expanded end of the bender handle to straighten your conduit to fit the job.

Check out our other low voltage conduit bending posts for specific information and “how-to-dos”

Click here to learn how to bend a stub or 90 degree
Click here to learn how to bend back-to-back 90 degree bends