A master electrician told me I was bending pipe wrong for 5 years

I was running EMT in a commercial building downtown and an old timer named Carlos came by to inspect. He watched me for two minutes and said I was fighting the pipe instead of working with the grain of the bend. Turns out I was over-cranking my hand bender and not making smooth, continuous arcs. He showed me to use my body weight and let the shoe do the work. Now my bends are consistent and I don't get that kinking near the end. Has anyone else had a small piece of feedback that totally changed your pipework game?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hayden15d ago

I spent years manhandling my bender like it owed me money before someone finally showed me the light.

hayden_nelson8515d ago

Nah, I gotta disagree a bit. Sometimes being rough with the bender actually helps if you're working with thicker gauge tube. I've seen guys baby theirs and end up with kinked messes. It's all about knowing when to muscle it and when to finesse. Different metals respond totally different too, aluminum you gotta be more careful but steel can take a beating.

brian32813d ago

Man I've been there too. Back when I was learning I snapped a cheap Harbor Freight bender on a piece of schedule 40 steel because I was trying to muscle it through. Had to borrow a buddy's rig to finish the job and he showed me how to heat the bend zone first with a torch. That changed everything for me. You ever tried preheating before you bend?