I have started This thread so we can all share some tips, tricks and pet peeves.
Like a friend once told me "theres a sly way to do everything”
Here are a few of my observations.
Its getting late so I will add more latter.

There are many books written on the subject
but here are a few tips for the forum members who may be just starting out
and would like to learn conduit.
Be careful with this knowledge. Once you get good at it and the supervisors find out you will get plenty of chances to use your skills.
Don’t get in a rut always try to learn everything about the job. How to read prints, control work ect.

Tip 1. Think things through and use what you have available.
Such things as the lines in concrete slabs, grating ect can make very handy straight edges and squares.
Just make sure they are straight and square before relying on them.

Tip 2. Such things as onehole straps, couplings, or short pieces of conduit make excellent spacers for laying out racks of conduit on the floor.
Sometimes they are just right for proper clamp space ect.

Tip 3/Peeve. Try to match couplings when practical. This may seem like a lot of trouble but is much more efficient and worth the effort when building racks. One end can be bent to match and then straight edge the other end to the shortest pipe and cut all conduits even.
Many jobs require it.

Tip 4/Peeve. Always do as much as possible on the ground. Put the couplings on the pipe, connectors in boxes ect.

Tip5 Measuring is the key. A fine art which can only be developed with experience.
Don’t always try to decide what the pipe measurements need to be. Sometimes it is easier to measure the distance to obstacles and the recreate the grid on the floor instead of trying to do all the math in the air.
When building racks always keep up with previous measurements.

Tip 6. When working on the floor stretch your tape out, lock it and turn it loose. (laying beside the pipe).
Don’t try to hold your tape while marking the pipe.

Tip 7. Make reference marks on the floor. These marks can be handy now and later.
With some imagination different color markers, carpenter crayons, etc can be useful

Tip 8. When installing a pipe and using a level or tape to get it square level or plumb, make a reference mark so if the pipe moves you can put it back where you had it without having to get your tape or level back out.
This also will free up your hands. As soon as you get it where you like it , MARK IT. Then you can put away your level or tape and grab the next tool.

Tip 9. Remember, every thing is built in a square.
Simple.

Tip 10. Pull a string to keep racks straight and check clearances down the line.
Don’t pull the string where you want your pipe pull it to the side out of your way and reference from the string.

Tip 11. Learn to bend. Try to use whole sticks of conduit when possible. Its much more efficient.This is a bit harder to do with screw pipe than emt.Any thing less than three foot looks like a mistake.
If screw pipe use as few three part
couplings as possible.

Tip 12.Use standard angles when possible.
15, 30, 45 degree.It looks better and is easier for the next guy to match."which may be you".



[This message has been edited by kdal (edited 04-22-2006).]

When you're 30' deep in the second story attic of a 100 year old house and your bender is in the garage, a knee is good for a 5 degree change in bend.

Dave

forget straight and square when running on the face of a visable cinder block wall. Run parallel/perpendicular to the grout lines. To the eye, there are more grout lines and they will appear straight.

Sometimes you have to ask, do you want it level and plumb or do you want it to look good.

Don't forget that someone will be pulling wire through your "art".

Place boxes/pull points where they maximize pulling EASE...don't always assume 360° is best because that is what the code limits - 270° makes a much easier pull.

Pulling down is always easiest, feeding can go either way, but feeding up IS a little easier (especially when working alone).
When running PVC outdoors or in unconditioned areas, remember the expansion and contraction is tremendous. In most areas, hot days to cold days exceed 100 degrees, and an expansion fitting is required for a 10 foot or longer run when solidly connected between boxes. To avoid using expansion fittings, I use 90 degree bends on the ends of runs and two foot long risers to allow for the movement of the pipe. Also, use only PVC straps, which are designed to allow the conduit to move.

I put a crutch tip on the end on my bender handle.

Peeves- all obvious ones like kinks and dog legs, but also visible markings left on unpainted conduit runs.

Tips- Use a pencil for marking bends, and erase the marks after the bend is made. Use a sharpie for the cuts only, or else wipe the sharpie mark off after with nail polish remover.

Peeve #2 is finding set screws on couplings and box connectors that never got screwed in .

especially if they are using the conduit for the ground

I could careless if there is marker marks on the pipe. Carb clean would take it off. I can't see a pencil mark good enough. End up having to remeasure because I lost my line.

My peeves is people that bid out pipe homes for less then $4/SF, cut every corner and hack it in. Just seen a house today full of basement j-boxes 4x4x1.5 with at least 6 pipes in them. Or 2 days ago a new big $$ home with 7 pipes in a standard 3 gang. Yes we found they pinched and shorted wires to fit the dimmers.

When are these same people going to learn not to use the side knock outs on most switch boxes especially the 1.5" ones. Works great till the next person tries to put in a dimmer. One of my guys just said he just shorted out a dimmer in his home tring to fit in in with a side pipe. I said "Ya, it's about time you started to learn on your time." I remember when he just started he could not understand why I did not want him to pipe in the side of a switch.

Also hate lip wrist people that can't tighten a conector lock nut.

another way to remove those sharpie marks is to write over the mark with a sharpie then quickly wipe it off. The new ink softens the old ink on metal, plastic etc.

Some of my pet peeves are,

• Sharpie marks on the bends.
• Couplings that don't line up on a rack.
• Not trying to match an existing run.
• Pipes that cross when they didn't need to.
• Boxes that are hard to reach. If it’s hard to reach when installing, how do you expect to pull the wire.
• The strut straps that have a setscrew into the pipe.
• Piping with pre fab bends and a lot of couplings. I prefer bending everything 2” and under, I understand fittings for 2-1/2 and larger. The big bender is time consuming for a couple of bends.
• Using cheap die cast fittings. I like steel but use whatever the budget calls for.
• The screws that all the manufactures are using now. The combo, straight, Phillips, #3 square drive. None work that great, never have the right tool. 10 in 1 doesn’t work very good, the tool is usually too small.
• Having to improvise on fittings or a bends when planning would have helped.
• Short pieces in a run with couplings close together. I will cut the longer piece to space the couplings out and make it look better.
• Open and closed bends, also wows and doglegs. I just started using a no dog level and I like it and highly recommend it especially over 1”. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.
• Questioning my judgment. I will listen to ideas though and sometimes use them.
• Calling “Conduit” ; “Pipe”. I am an offender I know. Some people only call RGS conduit.

I like to put the setscrews on the top of the pipe. I looks better from the floor and it doesn't deform the bottom of the pipe end in the coupling. When the screws are on the bottom and the screws are not tightened the same you could get a lip inside the coupling on the bottom where the wire lays. On the top who cares.
I also watch and anticipate the pulling force at the 90s and support them in addition to the straight runs.

How do you know when the EMT connector set screws are tight enough? The Value Engineered materials that we use some times seems very low budget. You can tighten these screws and the coupling or connector starts deforming and doesn’t seem to be tight enough. It feels like the connector will split. This is for die cast mostly.

Does anyone still do concentric bending? It looks sweet on a rack.

For the best looking conduit runs that are easier to pull remember the 6 P's.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Sorry if the language is not appropriate.

My favorite is PVC coated. When install correctly with the correct tooling and fittings it looks awesome.

If you can run rigid and make it look good without extra couplings or erickson couplings, you can run anything.

I know that most of these thing that we are discussing are only noticed by other electricians and most people would never look twice.

You can always spot an electrician in a nice building because he will always look up after he enters the building to check out the electrical work. Myself included. Tell me that you don’t do this and I would say you are lying.

Tim
30 years of conduit installation. EMT, Rigid, PVC, Aluminum, PVC coated Steel, PVC coated Aluminum, Fiberglass.


[This message has been edited by tkb (edited 04-22-2006).]

I forgot one of my favorite peeves. Its looking at an lb that is flying out in the air on a conduit run, not really getting used to go around any corner or anything, just sitting out there all unsupported. LB's used at services and gutters are not included in the above, those are ok by me.

Tim,
Where can I find the no dog level. Can't seem to find the thing anywere.

Phil

There are many variations of the No Dog level around.

Right now I have the Maxis Speed Set http://www.maxistools.com/product/speedset/
I don't really like it that much because the bubble is longer than the lines in the level. It is probably because air leaked into the vial.

No Dog is at http://www.no-dog.com/ I know that iwire has purchased these so maybe he can give his comments on this brand.

Greenlee makes one also. You can get it at ToolUp http://www.toolup.com/productInfo.asp?pid={954BAB99-C357-4266-AC95-4F7277BEED3F}

I think I will be getting a new one and I think it will be the Greenlee.
When you use one correctly, it does help with your bends.
I don’t think it matters if the bender is level, just that it is in the same position for both bends. The level makes sure that you rotated the pipe 180 degrees.

I have used the "no dog" brand for over 15 years....still using the same one, and it gets abused - bottom of the toolbox, falls out of my pocket on a lift, etc. Works fine still.

I am considering "upgrading" to the GreenLee model($36). The GreenLee model costs about 3x what the original no-dog costs($12) and is about $5 higher than the "no-dog" brand tool with 5 vials(no thumb screw~$30). The GreenLee model has 4 vials and a thumb screw .

Kdal, looks like you covered just about all I would have to offer, spare a few.

"Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance"

Oh Yeah! I usually start a job (large job that is) by doing some thourough planning. I get myself a new box of mechanical pencils, and a zerox copy of of the RCP's for each floor. ~$20 at a office supply store darn well spent! (Lot cheaper than plan printing service) Large format copies of a few pages of the plans, just to pencil in conduit runs, cable runs too. Just draw them right in.... And plan for the future. (And extra conduit, or in the very least, room for one.)
Line Diagrams

Right back on planning.... Try to hang more conduit that you have to bend. That goes with out saying, but have seen people layout runs where it seems every piece is manipulated in some way. The fewer bends you make, the easier the pull, and looks better too. Sometimes it is much more efficient to remove an obstical, than go around it. I recently went to a job to see a guy making 20 saddle bends past a single piece of existing 1/2" at different points on the cieling. (I got ticked off.) It was much more efficient to just remove it and incorporate it into the work, and would have looked better too.

As for the 'No-dog' - great tool, not totally nessesary... And I can rarely find mine. I learned other ways to get around that before I heard of that tool, and seeing that I usually have no idea where it is, I stick to this standard method.
Bender notches

Make an issue of KO seals by issuing them only when needed with a snear and lecture. If there is a box of them laying around, people are less descriminate about finding uses for them, and not thinking before they knock out boxes.

And this one, is just my opinion... Sometimes pipe is a 2 man job. IMO it goes a lot quicker with one on couplings and doing the bends, and another on straps and boxes. (So long as more work than talk...) This way set coupling get tight without someone having to hop around from the strap, and back. Or, one guy measuring and installing, and the other bending and cutting. When doing racks I usually bend on the floor from called out measurements and just pass them up.

For 1/2" I have a 1/2 sized bender handle. A full bender handle is not nessesary for leverage in that size. Which can be very handy in some situations. I carry it in a hammer loop, bend in the air with it resting on my thiegh/knee, against the wall, or on the floor. It is just easier to handle, without the long handle...

I've got one like that with an 1-1/2" offset bent in the handle.
I use it for "special" bends. You can bend 180° in about 13", and the handle never gets in the way.

Great topic!!

Has anyone used the MAXIS Marksmen tool to layout KO's in boxes? It looks like it would be useful once you get used to it.

See link below: http://www.maxistools.com/product/marksman/

I bought the Maxis Marksman about a year ago. I love it!! I bought it when I had a job that involved punching out 6 tubs. It made the whole layout process really quick and fun. I was sorry when I ran out of tubs on that job. I'm about to really put it to use again in the next week or so. I have 10 tubs to lay out and punch.

I have the Maxis Marksman tool also but never have it with me or remenber it when it would be a perfect time to use it though.

Just used it as a conversation piece in the van only so far.

[This message has been edited by tkb (edited 04-25-2006).]

This site has some good info on bending: http://www.porcupinepress.com/_technicalinfo/TechnicalInfo.htm