hand benders ideal vs klien?

[clayton]

want to buy some hand benders, would like to know if anyone has any experience with ideal and klein what you think of them or if there are better ones out there im not aware of? thanks. clayton

 

[mdshunk]

The Ideal and Klein benders are both identical, in that they are both Benfield style. The GB and Appleton benders are the bastard one's, since handle straight up on those is 45 degrees instead of 30. Most people are using a no-dog or similar inclinometer nowadays anyhow, so it's starting to matter less.

 

[cschmid]

I have ideal and rigid benders. I use the greenlee conduit clamp on level allot. bent so much pipe can do it free hand with out all them gizmos just the benders sometimes I even use a tape measure. (lol)

 

[infinity]

As Marc suggested, given a choice I would choose a bender that was at 30 degrees with the handle perpendicular to the conduit or straight up from the floor. Also I like he ones that have the built in level bubbles for 45 and 90 degrees. This covers most of your bends, 30's with the handle straight up, 45's and 90's with the bubbles.

 

[peter]

Klein bought out Jack Benfield so the Klein is the original, such as it were. They come with a yellow handle and are more expensive. What color is the Appleton bender handle?
Greenlee has the "StraightLine" feature whick is a little peg that you can sight down on to get your angle. One nice feature of the Greenlee is the start arrow is exactly where the end of the bending grove is.
Don't cheap out and get a piece of plumbing pipe for the handle. This will work but the official handle will be painted and the open end will be swaged so that it will fit over the the counduit so you can tweak the bend to get it exact. To get an exact 90?, I compare the bend to a nearby column or wall.
Mention should also be made of the Ericksen bend which will bend 1/2", 3/4" and 1" with one tool. It makes all bends to a super radius of 12" which helps in wire pulling.
~Peter

 

[480sparky]

Mention should also be made of the Ericksen bend which will bend 1/2", 3/4" and 1" with one tool. It makes all bends to a super radius of 12" which helps in wire pulling.

Ericksen Bender Home Page

 

[mdshunk]

That's one wacky bender. Neat, but wacky. At 140 bucks, I think I can carry the three real one's that it replaces. It would certainly make for some racks that would be sure to stir conversation if there were all three sizes of pipe with the same bend radius on the same rack.

 

[eric stromberg]

To get an exact 90?, I compare the bend to a nearby column or wall.
~Peter

So, your floors are level and your walls are plumb? Where i live, that's not always a good assumption. :grin: :grin:

 

[mdshunk]

So, your floors are level and your walls are plumb? Where i live, that's not always a good assumption. :grin: :grin:

I often set up my cut/thread/bend area near the intersection of saw cuts in the floor when I have a lot to do. They're normally a pretty nice 90.

 

[mattsilkwood]

i like the ideal and klein,i have used the greenlee some but not enough to tell if i like it or not. but i hate the gb i dont know what it is but i cant bend two pieces of pipe the same with one. maybe im just not holding my mouth right and like marc said the joints in the floor are normally pretty square.

 

[clayton]

thanks to all you guys for the responses,
earlier in my carreer i bought the GB brand, and it has been terrible.
i couldnt get 2 bends the same either.


so you know i bought the ideals since their about the same as the kliens.
and i didn't have to wait for them ill let you know how it goes this weekend(big conduit job) should be lots of fun

 

[busman]

I have an old set of GB benders that I'm not fond of. However, I love the new GB Big-ben series. These are Benfield style with 30 degrees when straight up and a large foot pedal. Also has the notch for reverse bending a few degrees.

Mark

 

[clayton]

the ideal benders worked great im very happy with them

 

[ryan_618]

the ideal benders worked great im very happy with them

I always prefered ideal as well.

 

[DavidA]

I found it funny that after claiming you no longer need to carry 3 different sized benders at the end of the Erikson bender ad you're informed that it's not there to replace having each size of bender. That's the truth though. There are situation that demand a short bend radius

 

[don_resqcapt19]

It makes all bends to a super radius of 12" which helps in wire pulling.

According the the wire pull calculations, increasing the radius of the bend does not change the required pulling force. It will reduce the sidewall pressure, but that is not an issue with conduit bent with a bender like these.
Don

 

[hey_poolboy]

I most certainly prefer Ideal. I find the markings on the klein's too hard to read.
I have a 1/2" GB and hate it. It works well for bending re-bar when needed.:grin:

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

I've never bent 1/2" conduit in my life. Is this really used much in commercial applications?

 

[barbeer]

I've never bent 1/2" conduit in my life. Is this really used much in commercial applications?

I have installed a bunch!

 

[randomkiller]

I've never bent 1/2" conduit in my life. Is this really used much in commercial applications?

I go through about 6-10 bundles a week, doing control work in municipal, commercial and industrial buildings.