Old sparky showed me a trick on a big commercial job last month

I was running 3/4 EMT in a parking garage near downtown Denver and kept fighting with my offsets. An older guy named Pete who's been in the trade 40 years walks over and says "you're bending too close to the shoe." He showed me to pull back about 2 inches and use a different foot pressure. Saved me at least 20 minutes on the next run and my bends looked way cleaner. Has anyone else picked up a small trick like that from a seasoned guy that just clicks?

2 comments

2 Comments

grayw3227d ago

I hear you on the "pull back 2 inches" thing but I've never bought into that for offsets. I've been bending pipe for 15 years and the whole "too close to the shoe" deal is overblown. You know what actually fixed my messy offsets? Quit trying to bend it all in one smooth motion. Stick the bender at your mark, put your weight on it to about 10 degrees, then stop and check your angle. Then push it the rest of the way. That little pause lets the metal settle and keeps it from kinking near the shoe. Pete's trick might work for him but I see too many guys overcorrecting and ending up with bends that look like a drunk snake.

eva24327d ago

Oh man, I used to be all about the smooth one-motion bend too, @grayw32, thought it was cleaner. But I tried your pause trick on a job last week and it made a huge difference, my offsets actually came out level instead of looking like crap. You might be onto something with letting the metal settle.