Conduit Bending Trainer: Bend Bench
Lay out stub-ups, back-to-back 90s, offsets, saddles and kicks, see the finished bend in 3D, and keep the run inside the 360 degrees NEC 358.26 allows between pull points.
Bend Bench is the EMT bending tool from our field guide, on its own page so an apprentice can run it full-width or an instructor can put it on a screen. Pick the trade size (½″ to 1¼″), pick the bend — stub-up, back-to-back, offset, rolling offset, box offset, kick, three- and four-bend saddles, parallel offsets, concentric bends — enter the obstruction, and it returns the marks to make: the distance to each mark, which bender mark to use (arrow, star or teardrop), the take-up or shrink applied, and the gain. A 3D model bends from the numbers you entered, so you see the finished piece before you cut the stick.
The code behind it is short. NEC 358.24 requires bends made so the tubing is not damaged and its internal diameter is not effectively reduced, with a radius no tighter than Chapter 9, Table 2; 358.26 caps a run at 360 degrees of bends between pull points; 358.28(A) requires the cut end reamed. The trainer keeps a running degree budget for the whole run, so the cost of a second 90 or a saddle shows up as you lay it out.
The mistakes it is built to catch are the ones that scrap a stick: using a 90-degree take-up on an off-angle bend, when published take-up applies only to 90s; subtracting take-up from the pipe length instead of the stub height; forgetting that an offset shrinks the run; and measuring a stub to the back of the pipe when the drawing meant the center — settle that before you cut.
Simplified concept tool for training and illustration — not a construction document. Equipment layouts and bender take-ups vary; manufacturer instructions and the locally adopted code govern.
This page frames an interactive trainer that does not print. Open https://www.aztucsonelectricalsolutions.com/trainer-conduit-bending in a browser to use it.
Text description of this trainer
An interactive EMT bending calculator. A selector at the top chooses the trade size — ½″, ¾″, 1″ or 1¼″ — and shows the take-up that goes with it. A left column lists every bend, grouped into 90-degree bends, offsets, saddles and large-radius work, with the degrees each one spends. The center panel shows the selected bend as a 3D conduit model that bends from the numbers entered, with a flat-stick layout strip below it showing where each mark lands. An obstruction panel takes the dimensions the bend needs, and a results panel returns the marks to make, which bender mark to use, the take-up or shrink applied, and the gain, with an on-the-bender sequence and a watch-for note. A run budget panel counts the degrees used against the 360 allowed between pull points by NEC 358.26.
How to use it in a class
Put one bend on the screen and have students predict the marks on paper before the tool shows them — the bender-mark question (arrow, star or teardrop) is where most first-year apprentices go wrong, not the arithmetic. Then hand out scrap EMT and a hand bender and have them make the bend the tool laid out, checking the stub with a level against a real surface. Finish with the run budget: give the class a route with two 90s, a saddle and an offset and ask which bends to trade for shallower ones to stay inside 358.26. The take-up values in the tool are typical; the take-up stamped on the bender head in your shop governs on the bench.
Section numbers follow the 2023 NEC; the edition adopted by your jurisdiction and its amendments govern, and the AHJ has the final say. The trainer is a teaching simplification of work for qualified, licensed electricians — on a real installation, de-energize, apply lockout/tagout, verify absence of voltage with a tested meter, and wear PPE selected per NFPA 70E before touching anything.
Learn it here, do it with us
Arizona Electrical Solutions trains apprentices on exactly this work — services, grounding and bonding, transformers, conduit — on commercial projects across Arizona. If you are planning the work itself rather than learning it, send us the job.
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The guide this trainer came from, the calculator that pairs with it, and the rest of the set.