bentright

Bender take-up

Where you put the arrow, measured from the end. Inches, or feet-inches.

What that bend actually measured, to the back of the 90.

5 in take-up for this bender and pipe
= 5 in
From now on, mark = your height − 5 in from the end. Write it on the bender.

Take-up is how much length a 90° bend consumes as the pipe curves through the corner, and it belongs to the bender and the pipe size, not to any code book. Read it off your tool where you can. Where you cannot, make one test bend and this finds it: enter the mark you bent from and the height that bend actually finished at, and it gives the take-up for that setup.

Worked example

You bend a scrap with the arrow on a 7 inch mark and the finished stub measures 12 inches to the back of the 90. Your take-up is 12 − 7 = 5 inches for that bender and that pipe. From then on, every stub on that setup is height − 5 inches from the end. Write the 5 on the bender so you are not deriving it again next week.

The formula

Take-up is the finished height less the mark you bent from:

take-up = finished height − mark from end

A stub-up places its mark at height − take-up from the end, so if you already know a real mark and the height it produced, the take-up is just the difference. This is the stub relation run backward, and it is exact for the tool you tested — no chart, no borrowed number, no guessing.

No universal take-up chart

You will find tables online that list a take-up for each conduit size as if it were fixed. It is not — it varies by bender make and model, and the only figure that lands your stub on the mark is the one for the tool you are holding. bentright deliberately hosts no such chart. Read your bender or make a test bend; both give you the truth for your setup.

Questions

Where do I find my bender take-up?
On the tool. It is usually stamped on the bender shoe or printed in the sheet that came with it, listed per conduit size. If you have lost it, the fastest way to get it back is to make one test bend and work backward, which is what the calculator on this page does.
Why does bentright not have a take-up chart?
Because take-up is a property of a specific bender and pipe size, not a universal figure, and a compiled chart of manufacturer values is somebody’s table to defend. The honest tool is to read the number off your own bender or derive it from a bend you made. That is always right for the tool in your hand.
Does take-up change with pipe size?
Yes. A larger conduit bends on a bigger radius, and a bigger radius eats more length through the 90, so take-up grows with size. That is why it is listed per size on the tool rather than as one number, and why a figure from a different bender or size will be off.
My stubs are all off by the same amount — why?
Your take-up figure is wrong by that amount. If every stub finishes, say, a quarter inch tall, your real take-up is a quarter inch more than the number you are using. Make a test bend, measure it, and use this page to find the take-up that setup actually has.

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