bending plastic conduit - ?

[LukeScotty]

first thing comes to your head is, "use a bleeding bending spring"

Now, i was wondering as I havnt tried it yet,but has any one tried bending plastic conduit with a bending spring, on an actual bender tool thingi me bobs..... because I tried doing a double set in a length and it was quiet hard, to say i don't use it often. anyways, if anyone has any decent techniques, id love for you to share them, or whether you've tried a bending spring on a bender?

 

[Greenriff]

Bend it round your knee with a spring inside, but make sure you dont make the radius of the bent too small. There is a skill to learn here, you dont need to rub/heat/warm the conduit if you bend it properly. Refer to the regs to find out the minimum bend radius. Start to bend the conduit at a certain point using your knee, 1st bend it slightly, 2nd bend it slightly again at another spot about 20mm away from the first bend, keep bending it more and more alternating between each point until you get a smooth radius started then you can just bend it all the way using your arms only, 3rd bend it too far then unbend it to the angle required. shazam it should stay there. You need to practise this lots to learn the skill so you dont end up with a tight right angle with stress marks which is hard to pull cables into(I see these bends all over the place).

 

[Ashley Williams]

Heat and around your knee. Get a paper cloth and rub it creates enough heat but saves your hands.. The conduit...

A

 

[Johno]

***** to the radius, as long as it looks right and the cables aren't to tight. (just being honest)

 

[benji]

no disrespect to anybody but i never thought a thread on bending plastic conduit would go on this long,
IT,S JUST PRACTICE thats all.


yours benji

 

[gaffer]

no disresect to anybody but i never thought a thread on bending plastic conduit would go on this long,
IT,S JUST PRACTICE thats all.


yours benji

Everyones got to learn

 

[Scott F]

Whats the different applications for light and heavy gauge plastic conduit ?

 

[UNG]

Tallow on the spring helps when removing from the conduit and not as messy as oil

A rag to rub the conduit to get heat in it is how I do it can take a few attemps to get a bend depending on the ambient temp. If it's possibe leave it somewhere warm for a few hours before using it

 

[Cobraman]

I just rub the conduit a bit with a dry tea towel, put the bending spring in and bend, thats all there is to it and have had no problems with this method.

 

[Davey101]

No offence to anyone, but unless you have some crappy quality tube, there is no need to rub or warm the conduit (dunno about light gauge, does anyone actually use this?).

 

[YTSOxford]

Leave it on one of a work light for a few seconds and bend with a spring in it. Don't go off for a tea break tho, or you'll be cleaning your light!

 

[UNG]

No offence to anyone, but unless you have some crappy quality tube, there is no need to rub or warm the conduit (dunno about light gauge, does anyone actually use this?).

It would be interesting to know what tube you are using from your comment. I have used tube from most manufacturers and unless it is in a warm environment it all needs warming to bend it without problems

 

[Sintra]

Always needs warming. Never seen any make of tube that would bend properly cold.

 

[bugsy]

Ive never bent pvc conduit without getting a bit of heat into it regardless of quality

 

[Phil]

first time i bent it turned into a right mess. think i even managed to split the sides of it, my mates sides were splitting too when he seen it

 

[Davey101]

Not sure on the make of tube to be honest, most of it either comes from Newey's, or Edmunsons.
Have just been working on a hospital with several thousand metres of tube in it (around 40 sparks), cant comment on all the sparks on site, but none of my mates warmed it up, and we had no problems until we had a bad batch/different make, which was constantly cracking, or creasing. I've got 3 bundles on my site now, none of us warm it up, and I had frost on my van this morning.

Not saying that you will never have to warm it, just that I haven't seen anyone do it since my apprenticeship.
Perhaps its the difference between light and heavy gauge?