Is This the Best Conduit Bender For EMT?-The Hoppy Bender
For the last two weeks I have been cluing you in on some of my favorite tools. I will continue that series today but with a little different objective. The last two tools in this series focused on making work faster and safer. The selection for today’s blog does do that but will also help you with another majorly important area STRESS.
If you have been in electrical contracting for a while, I am sure you have experienced the joy of breaking in a new apprentice or working with day help. There is nothing that can be more frustrating than taking on helpers that cost you more time than they save or who mess things up costing you material and profit.
That is why I choose the Hoppy Bender and my recommended tool for the week. I won’t say it is idiot proof. I have met too many idiots to believe anything really meets that description but I will say that this tool is ignorant proof, which is close enough.
Conduit Bending
Be honest, all of us have made a bad bend once or twice in our careers. Bending conduit is one of those jobs that looks so simple but can get complicated fast. Many of us spend more time running conduit than we do running wire and the mystic art involved in bending can be hard for some to grasp. That is where the Hoppy Bender comes into play.
With this tool you can show even the greenest helper how to make consistent, accurate bends in minutes. Even three and four point saddles are made simple using the Hoppy Bender. If your “new guy” can read the simple chart mounted on the handle and a tape measure they can become a help rather than a hindrance.
Easy to Use
Making proper bends has never been simpler. Just look at the chart on the handle and select your desired offset. The chart will tell you where to place you marks on the conduit and where to place the adjustable stop on the Hoppy Bender. Mark, set, and bend it is as easy as that. You don’t even have to remove the conduit from the bender to reverse directions.
Added Bonus
As an added bonus every Hoppy Bender comes with a collar intended to make marking around conduit sure and easy and this ingenious little device does that job well but I have found it also makes a great saw guide for those times when you have to use a hacksaw to make cuts.
Overall Rating
For ease of use, ingenuity, and for keeping me from killing apprentices I have to love this tool. It takes what can be a complicated job and makes it simple. It eliminates the frustration of trying to explain simple geometry on the job site and greatly reduces the waste newbies usually generate. Best of all it frees me and my senior guys up from playing constant teacher and watch dog.
Less work, less waste, faster work equals less stress for me and it will for you too. I give this tool a solid nine, maybe nine point five. Still no coffee.
