Conduit bending table

[DAWGS]

Has anybody ever tried to use a enerpac (GB) 2 1/2 - 4" eegor bendor with a greenlee 1801 bending table? I dislike the bending table that Gardner Bender sells and would like to buy the Greenlee 1801. But would rather not purchase a new $14000.00 Greenlee 881CT bender. Any thoughts or advise? Also I am new to forum and not sure if this is posted in the right spot.

[George Stolz]

Also I am new to forum and not sure if this is posted in the right spot.
As good a spot as any, welcome to the forum. :)

[DAWGS]

Thanks George, Ive been visiting and reading post for about a couple months. Very interesting questions and learning alot.

[mdshunk]

I've never used one, but I dislike GB's other benders. Most hand benders are 30° when the handle is straight up, but the GB's are 45° (just like the old Appleton benders). If their Eegor benders are just as bastardized, I'd rather not use one. I've found that it pays to just buy the equipment that everyone's used to, like the triple nickle and the 881.

[celtic]

I agree with Marc's comments.

Might not be the answer you want, but that's all I got.

[e57]

Why do you need a bender table? Don't like working on your knees?

Same here! :roll:

Build a TABLE. Last big bender job I did I just built a table out of some stout 4X lumber and some 5/8 plywood, and put the bender up on it. Just like working on the floor - but higher... And cost much, much less. You want it mobile? Buy some casters.

[DAWGS]

I will mainly leave it set up in my shop to make bends as needed on short runs. But larger jobs I will put it in an enclosed trailer and bring it to job site and do the bending right from trailer.

[quogueelectric]

Setting up the bender on the pipe setup with 2in rigid pipes and 4 legs is the way I usually like to bend pipe unless you are really going to do a lot of bending and I mean a lot of bending. Doesnt really matter to me which manufacturer as long as the shoes dont kink the pipe. One or two shot or segment all the same a little trigonometric equations and we are in buisness I was very fortunate to have caught the tail end of extensive rigid and pvc coated rigid pipe bending in the early eightys. There are many many tricks to learn I laugh at the young bucks who try to fudge it in and run themselves into a big mess. You really can make it look easy if you know what you are doing. If you dont know and rush into a poor layout it will soon become welcome to my nightmare. First tip buy a checkpoint level with a no dog in it

[infinity]

For precision bending you can't beat the Greenlee 881 with the table. We've always used the 881 for 2.5"-4" conduit. $14K is a lot of scratch but the thing should last for a looooong time.

[DAWGS]

I agree that the 881CT with table is the way to go but I baught the eegor used for a great price.The GB eegor is the same specs as the greenlee 881CT, and looks very similiar in setup. But the table GB sells doesnt look very friendly. I have used a Greenlee table with a GB one shot before, we just had to machine the pins down a little and it set up fine and worked great.

[peter d]

The shop I work for owns several 881 CT's.

I was assigned to a job recently that called for thousands of feet of 2.5", 3.5" and 4" EMT. I had never installed that size pipe before, let alone bent it. Others on the crew had never used the "table bender" as we call it either. So they brought the bender to the job and our in-house instructor came and showed us how to use it.

Within a day we were all bending the stuff like we had been doing it for years. The bender is very easy to use. It's the same principles as hand bending but with much larger multipliers and distances between bends.

Bottom line, you can do some very professional looking work with a large bender.

[celtic]

Within a day we were all bending the stuff like we had been doing it for years. The bender is very easy to use. It's the same principles as hand bending but with much larger multipliers and distances between bends.
.

huh?

The mutlipliers are the same regardless of conduit size. The multipliers relate to the BEND - not the CONDUIT. The distances between bends is based on the multipliers, which are consistant regardless of conduit size.
ie,
15° = x3.86
22.5° = x2.6
30° = x2
45° = x1.41

See: http://www.porcupinepress.com/_bending/offsets.htm*

[peter d]

I stand corrected. Darn memory again.

[infinity]

I stand corrected. Darn memory again.


Well, you were partially right. The stub up deductions are much greater with the larger conduit. A typical 3/4" bender would have a deduction of 6" for a 90 degree bend. A piece of 3.5" on a 881 would have a deduction around 21" for a 90 degree bend.

[Smart $]

Within a day we were all bending the stuff like we had been doing it for years. The bender is very easy to use. It's the same principles as hand bending but with much larger multipliers and distances between bends.
huh?

The mutlipliers are the same regardless of conduit size. The multipliers relate to the BEND - not the CONDUIT. The distances between bends is based on the multipliers, which are consistant regardless of conduit size.
ie,
15° = x3.86
22.5° = x2.6
30° = x2
45° = x1.41

See: http://www.porcupinepress.com/_bending/offsets.htm*
Quite correct... but I believe peter was referring to multipliers and distances in the small offset range of large conduit when compared to small conduit. For instance, because the centerline bend radius of 4" EMT on a 881 is 21", you cannot make a 30° offset that is less than 10". You have to resort to an offset angle that is less than 30° where the multiplier and distance between bends are greater than doing a bend of the same offset distance using 30°with small diameter conduit.

[celtic]

For instance, because the centerline bend radius of 4" EMT on a 881 is 21", you cannot make a 30° offset that is less than 10".

Actually, you (probably) can ;)
Instead of using the "push thru-method", make one bend, remove pipe from bender, insert other end.
This was a "technique" we came up with when we needed some ridiculous bends on 4" GRC.

[peter d]

Quite correct... but I believe peter was referring to multipliers and distances in the small offset range of large conduit when compared to small conduit.

Yes, that was exactly it. Thanks for the refresher.

We had to make a lot of small offsets and that problem came up repeatedly.

[Smart $]

Actually, you (probably) can ;)
Instead of using the "push thru-method", make one bend, remove pipe from bender, insert other end.
This was a "technique" we came up with when we needed some ridiculous bends on 4" GRC.
Quite true, because you eliminate the straight section between bends required for the bend mark to beginning-of-bend distance—a whopping 8.5"/8.75" for 4" EMT/GRC on the 881. So one could, theoretically, make a 6" 30° offset of 4" conduit on the 881. The minimum 10" offset I mentioned above is from the manual. However, the manual does not explain how to do tail-to-tail bent offsets :D

[celtic]

However, the manual does not explain how to do tail-to-tail bent offsets :D

Isn't that always the EC's complaint: Book learnin' ain't a complete education :D

[mdshunk]

However, the manual does not explain how to do tail-to-tail bent offsets :DSpeaking of which, is there something online that references that?

[Smart $]

Speaking of which, is there something online that references that?
None that I know of... but then again, I haven't tried to find anything of the sort. The closest I've ever seen in any documentation is back-to-back 90° bends.

[celtic]

Marc, when we came across this situation ('00) we just improvosed in the field. We had hundreds (if not thousands) of feet of 4" GRC to run for a MV cable pull.

[K2500]

Has anybody ever tried to use a enerpac (GB) 2 1/2 - 4" eegor bendor with a greenlee 1801 bending table? I dislike the bending table that Gardner Bender sells and would like to buy the Greenlee 1801. But would rather not purchase a new $14000.00 Greenlee 881CT bender. Any thoughts or advise? Also I am new to forum and not sure if this is posted in the right spot.

I've never used the 1801, but I do like the enerpac STB type benders(with the electric pump). A quick search says they are about $6,000. We had to make a stand and bolt it to the box to set it upright, but it's a good bender. It will do 3/4" to 4", and belive it or not with a little fabricating it will do 6". Well, maybe a lot of fabricating.:D

[quogueelectric]

Whenever you have a 4" set up I think it is allways a good idea to bend up a set of 5 degree four point saddles X2 on a stick of 4" you can use this with manufactured bends to make almost any bend or kick

[mdshunk]

Whenever you have a 4" set up I think it is allways a good idea to bend up a set of 5 degree four point saddles X2 on a stick of 4" you can use this with manufactured bends to make almost any bend or kickThe mention of manufactured bends brings up something that I think about sometimes.

It's certainly a time-saver to use factory 90's and 45's when you dealing with 1-1/4" and bigger. It just somehow makes me feel like less of a man to employ factory bends in my work. I do anyhow, but I don't feel especially good about it. I take a certain amount of pride in my bending skills, and using factory 90's sometimes messes with my pride.

Anyone else feel the same way sometimes, when you're using a factory bend that you could have just as easily bent yourself and not had to use couplings?

[peter d]

Anyone else feel the same way sometimes, when you're using a factory bend that you could have just as easily bent yourself and not had to use couplings?

Not really. We recently did a new service for a Starbucks remodel which was located in a downtown hotel. It would have been an absolute nightmare to set up the bending table there (occupied building, no space available in the basement), as it was hard enough just to find parking and getting material into the building. Sometimes the factory elbows have their place, and that job was definitely one of them.

[celtic]

Manufac. bends do have their place ....BUT....they are NOT always the same ~ imagine that!
Next time you have a pile of manufac. 90 °'s laying about (especially the larger sizes)....take some time and give them the heavy eye:
- are they true 90°'s?
- all of them?
- are the legs the same length?

It's amazing how a manufac. item doesn't always remain the "same".

[mdshunk]

Not really. .Not even sometimes :cool: ?

[FNCnca]

- are they true 90°'s?
- all of them?
- are the legs the same length?

It's amazing how a manufac. item doesn't always remain the "same".


For many years I worked in a facility that bent "factory" elbows. The guages that were used for quality control, were not much better than "eyeballing" them. They were just majic marker layouts on plywood.

[peter d]

Not even sometimes :cool: ?

If it were up to me, I would bend everything with the table bender or the "Smart Bender". Back to reality, the factory elbows do come in handy many times. That's all I was trying to say. :)