1/2" EMT Bending Calculator

The take-up for 1/2 inch EMT on a standard hand bender is 5 inches. Take-up is the distance from the bender's arrow to the back of a finished 90-degree bend, so you subtract it from the desired stub height to find your mark. For a 12-inch stub in 1/2 inch EMT, the mark goes at 12 − 5 = 7 inches from the end of the conduit.

The deduct for a 1/2 inch EMT 90-degree bend equals the take-up, 5 inches, on a standard hand bender. Deduct and take-up are the same number: measure your stub height, subtract 5, and place the mark there. Some benders stamp this value on the shoe, but verify it with a test bend on your specific tool.

A 90-degree bend in 1/2 inch EMT has a gain of 1.72 inches. Gain is the material the curved bend saves compared to two straight pieces meeting at a square corner. When you figure the developed length of a bent piece, subtract 1.72 inches for each 90 in 1/2 inch EMT. Larger conduit has a larger radius and more gain.

No. Offset multipliers and shrink per inch depend only on the bend angle, not the conduit size. A 30-degree offset uses a multiplier of 2.0 and 1/4 inch of shrink per inch whether you bend 1/2 inch EMT or any other size. Only take-up, deduct, radius, and gain change with conduit size. See the offset multiplier chart for the angle-based values.