Bending EMT
29 Jun 2023
Electrical metallic tube (EMT) conduit is useful for a lot of things since it is cheap and strong. You can make a trellis with it.
To bend EMT you need a pipe bender. Experienced electricians can bend EMT to fit any configuration.
What I found helpful were the instructions that come with the bender that you can download from Home Depot.
IDEAL also has a video on YouTube.
There are a few numbers. Stubs to X. Look at the arrow. When you bend the pipe, that arrow point will be X inches off the ground.
Offset Bend
The other is the offset bend table which has the multiplier and shrink.
| Angle of Bend | Constant Multiplier | Shrink Per Inch of Offset |
|---|---|---|
| 10° x 10° | 6 | 1/16 = 0.063 |
| 22.5° x 22.5° | 2.6 | 3/16 = 0.188 |
| 30° x 30° | 2.0 | 1/4 = 0.188 |
| 45° x 45° | 1.4 | 3/8 = 0.375 |
| 60° x 60° | 1.2 | 1/2 = 0.500 |
The most common thing will be doing a 3/8” offset to connect to a handy box.
10° had multiplier of 6 3/8 * 6 = 18/8 = 2-1/4”
Shrink of 1/16 per inch. 1/16 * 3 / 8 = 3/128” (small enough to ignore)
- Put first mark at (distance to obstacle) + (total shrink)
- Put second mark at (offset distance) x (constant multiplier) away from first mark.
- Bend using arrow aligned to first mark.
- Bend using arrow aligned to second mark.
Mark 2-1/2” from end of pipe. Make another mark 2-1/4” from first mark. Bend 10° at each mark.