Help With Conduit Benders

[Little Bill]

I've bent just enough conduit to be dangerous. Mostly stub ups or small off sets. I had a co-worker who loved doing that and was quite good at it, so I pretty much left it to him. All that aside, I'm trying to brush up/learn bending. I have 2 benders, one 1/2" EMT and one combo 3/4" EMT/1/2"Rigid. All the literature or videos that I look at reference the star and tear drop markings on the benders. The problem I have is my 1/2" EMT bender has those markings but my 3/4" doesn't. The 3/4" has (starting at the toe) the arrow, followed by 10, 22, 30, 45, 60, and 90deg. The 22deg. has an "A" under it and the 30deg. has a "B" under it. Where would the star and tear drop be in relation to these markings? BTW, the smaller bender is a GB 960 & the larger one is GB 911 or 931.
Any help on this would be appreciated, even if you laugh first.

 

[Cow]

Aren't Gardner Bender's with the handle straight up 45 degree bends?

If so, throw those pieces of crap away and pick up some Ideals or Greenlee's. Then you get your star, along with the divot to mark the 45 degree bend centers.

 

[WIMaster]

Well I would not toss them out I certainly would buy Greenlee/ Ideal etc. as I VERY much prefer them and they are much better than the new GBs. .
For 3/4" and larger get iron heads not aluminum as they will take much more abuse than the aluminum ones
Also for 3/4" and larger get the Greenlee handles that are flared as they will slide over the conduit so you can adjust your stubs.
Get a bundle of 1/2" and practice, practice practice. Maybe EMT your garage at home??

 

[sameguy]

A= center or rim notch
B= back of bend
I'm taking a shot in the dark on this; why not go to the web page and look them up.

 

[kwired]

Well I would not toss them out I certainly would buy Greenlee/ Ideal etc. as I VERY much prefer them and they are much better than the new GBs. .
For 3/4" and larger get iron heads not aluminum as they will take much more abuse than the aluminum ones
Also for 3/4" and larger get the Greenlee handles that are flared as they will slide over the conduit so you can adjust your stubs.
Get a bundle of 1/2" and practice, practice practice. Maybe EMT your garage at home??

Iron head = more weight. I have a 1-1/4 EMT bender with aluminum head that is heavy enough as is. I don't care to use it if I don't have to. It is about all I can handle to try to bend 1" rigid or IMC with it.

My 1/2 and 3/4 benders get more abuse just because they are used the most, are always in the truck, and even get used for more than just bending conduit just because they are around and will do the trick at the time. 1 inch and larger benders stay in the shop until they will be needed on a job.

 

[Little Bill]

A= center or rim notch
B= back of bend
I'm taking a shot in the dark on this; why not go to the web page and look them up.

I did go to their site and wasn't able to find much help on this. I did however find 1 chart that more or less said that "B" was the back of the bend, presumably the star. I tried comparing the 2 benders I have and can't see the similarities because of their shape and markings.

 

[marti smith]

Little Bill, as with anything else in this industry, most of it takes some practice. And then some more practice, especially when it comes to layout. The Electricians Guide to Conduit Bending is a decent book that may give you some good info, like shrinkage. Mark those points on your bender, mark your pipe. After you bend it but before you remove it from the shoe, mark the pipe again to match the points (preferably with a different color). This will give you a good idea where the changes occur in your bends, and help you visulize as you go. All benders are not equal. As said before, practice, practice. And don't be afraid to give things a good tweaking! To get a really good feel of your bender, take all the bends out that you put in. It may give you some bad dreams, but it works.

 

[George Stolz]

Can you take a picture of the benders? I'm curious.

 

[Little Bill]

Can you take a picture of the benders? I'm curious.

If my batteries are any good in my camera I will.

 

[readydave8]

I like Jack Benfields pamphlet explaining how to mark & bend, usually I'm too lazy to use it but it's been useful in certain situations. Although I have trouble remembering that he doesn't measure back to back on offsets.

 

[Little Bill]

Here You Go George

Here You Go George

Can you take a picture of the benders? I'm curious.

If my batteries are any good in my camera I will.

Here's a few pictures of the benders, best I could do before my batteries died.

First is the 1/2" with the tear drop and star


Next is the 3/4" without the tear drop & star


Both side x side



Don't know why the link appeared instead of the pictures, the only thing I did different was upload from my computer instead of Photo Bucket.