'tight bender'

[Jloader0114]

HI

Any help welcome. its a few years since i used one but i know there are 'tight' or 'small' raduis formers out there for 20mm steel conduit somewhere. Had a look around this morning but cant locate one. (local CEF branch think ive made it up). I have a Record and Hilmor machine. Had an enquiry from a pub to make some trendy light fittings with that 'industrial look' out of conduit but standard size former looks a bit too large. Small raduis inspection elbows an option but trying to keep joints to a minimum.

Many thanks

 

[Darkwood]

Welcome to the forum, I too am confused by your suggestion as the bending 'former' on a standard mending machine is design to bend the conduit without undermining its structural integrity of the conduit, to bend it any tighter would risk the integrity of the conduit IMHO (I take it we are talking steel?).

This can be seen with plastic if you try create a bend that is too tight, you see the plastic stretches too much in places meaning its too thin and crumples in others hence I am surprised by your post... I'm happy to stand corrected on this of course if any member can provide a pic or link... as long as its not for other uses like copper pipe which have smaller hand held benders again designed for the material they bend.

 

[Jloader0114]

yes its for steel and as i said, its been a while since i used one, possibly back in apprenticeship days with NG Baileys, and as you say it can compromise the steel as well as reduce cable factor. I know they exists however and they had one the college i used to teach at, no more tho. The guys on site referred to it as a small raduis former or 'knuckle' former. i will persevere but any pointers very welcome and thanks.

 

[benji]

definately used to be a short radius former from hillmor

 

[rolyberkin]

You can buy a tighter radius (non inspection) bend which is threaded each end, would look better than an inspection bend!

 

[Darkwood]

It seems I'm on a school day then :cool3:, never come across one myself and do wonder if they were withdrawn because they did compromise the steel, I keep my eye on this thread just for sheer curiosity

 

[Jloader0114]

definately used to be a short radius former from hillmor

thanks ill check them again

 

[Clive P]

Hi,

Used them dozens of times in the past, but to be honest I haven't seen one for a long time. We used to call them ' pot benders' or something similar.

Regards.

 

[telectrix]

Or make them in chromed copper, use a wet-pants' bender.

 

[Marvo]

You're in the realms of workshop tooling here rather than electricians tools. I have a standard hand operated mandril bender that can go down to around 1.25D (the centreline bend radius is 1.25 times the tube diameter). I also have a hydraulic rotary draw bender that can go down to < 1D which is pretty damn tight. The limiting factor is usually the quality and wall thickness of the tube you're using and the availability of the bending dies and mandrels for the particular bender you have. What centerline radius do you want to achieve?

 

[Jloader0114]

Or make them in chromed copper, use a wet-pants' bender.

if it were that easy they would have asked a plumber,,, they like the galv finish including the BS number etc printed down the side!!!

 

[Jloader0114]

Thanks for that, a little technical for me tho i suspect 1.25 would do it, think thats not far off a short radius inspection elbow the tube is the standard galv conduit as supplied by most wholesalers, BSEN 61386-1. talked to a maintenance sparks at a place in Sheff, he definately remembers them for Record and Hillmor machines and is going to have a dig around their tool store. keep you posted and thanks again.