poor man's curvo

Terry Larsell

Just wondering if anyone has tried a hand powered electrical conduit bender to bend 3/4" and 1" copper. I came across a bender and almost bought it but I figured I'd better get some feedback first on the pro's and cons.

Terry

tom_49

Terry,

I'm not 100% sure , but I dont the sizes are the exact same. it probably will kink.

hr

Wrong O.D.

EMT condiut doesn't match copper tube OD.

Plus, to bend hard drawn copper you need a two piece bender with the center ring and a follower. They need to fit the pipe very tightly to prevent kinking.

hot rod

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Tony Conner

Poor Man's Curvo

You can use manual tube benders, like Ridgid's 378 for 7/8" tube (which is 3/4" copper pipe) and 358 for 5/8" tube (which is 1/2" copper pipe). They're expensive new, but they roll through ebay every once in a while, and you can often pick them up there, for not too much money. They're ratchet benders, so they've got a lot of leverage - they're actually made for bending rigid steel or stainless steel tubing. Not a lot of effort involved, but the trade off is a little more time to make the bend. Compared to the time to get the measurements, and set up for the bend, it won't add much, though.

Al Corelli

Just tried to use a 1/2" EMT bender to temp in a manual feed for a steamer last week. Was in such a rush, I used it on a lIVE water line. I got lucky, it didn't break, but it sure did kink the heck out of it.

Hey, I got them heat that night. That's all that counts.