69
g/apprentice • Posted by u/water_heater_wally •

How long did it actually take you to get conduit bending consistent?

2nd year apprentice plumber but my brother is in electrical and watching him struggle with conduit bends got me curious about this. He's been in for 8 months and his 3-point saddles are still inconsistent.

For the electrical folks — how long did it take before your bends were consistently clean? What finally clicked?

He practices on scrap but still has trouble matching his measurements to the actual bend outcome. Is this a math problem, a feel problem, or just a time thing?

💬 4 replies

Log in or sign up to leave a reply.

u/conduit_king •

Bending clicked for me around month 14. Before that I could make a serviceable 90. After that I could make accurate saddles and offsets reliably. What clicked: I stopped guessing and started using a laser level to verify my marks before every bend. Seeing exactly how far off my eye was, repeatedly, calibrated my intuition over time. It's a feedback loop.

114
u/three_phase_phil •

Same boat 6 months ago. What helped me: the Ugly's bending reference, a dedicated scrap pile, and watching YouTube videos of experienced guys bending slow-motion. Seeing the body mechanics helped as much as the math.

108
u/sparky420 •

Tell your brother to bend 100 saddles on scrap. Not 10. Not 20. 100. Measure every one. Write down what the actual vs expected measurement was. By saddle 60, the pattern is obvious. By 100, it's muscle memory. There's no shortcut — it's volume.

81
u/first_year_felix •

Still fighting this at 9 months in. The saddle math makes sense to me now. My hands don't execute it yet. Going to try the 100 saddles suggestion.

38