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, 1/4" (6.4 mm) tall, your real take-up is 1/4" (6.4 mm) 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.

Take-up de la dobladora

Marca desde la que dobló

Donde puso la flecha, medido desde el extremo. Pulgadas, o pies y pulgadas.

Altura final del stub

Lo que de verdad midió ese doblez, hasta la espalda del 90.

5 in de take-up para esta dobladora y este tubo

(5.00)

De ahora en adelante, marca = su altura − 5 in desde el extremo. Escríbalo en la dobladora.

Guárdelo para esta dobladora y este tubo

Se guarda solo en este navegador — sus propias cifras medidas, nunca una tabla. Las calculadoras de stub, kick 90 y espalda con espalda se llenan con ellas.

Guarde estos resultados

Enviamos este único correo a través de nuestro proveedor de correo y no guardamos su dirección.

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 examples

One test bend

You bend a scrap with the arrow on a 7" (178 mm) mark and the finished stub measures 12" (305 mm) to the back of the 90. Your take-up is 12 − 7 = 5" (127 mm) for that bender and that pipe. From then on, every stub on that setup is height − 5" (127 mm) from the end. Write the 5 on the bender so you are not deriving it again next week.

Every stub on the job is 1/4" (6.4 mm) tall

You have been using 5 for the take-up and the stubs keep finishing at 12 1/4" (311 mm) when you asked for 12" (305 mm). You do not need a scrap — the last stub is the test bend. Mark was 7" (178 mm), finished height 12 1/4" (311 mm), so take-up = 12 1/4 − 7 = 5 1/4" (133 mm). Change the figure, not the method, and the next stub lands on 12. The shoe may well say 5; worn shoes, a different make of pipe, and how hard you pull all move it, and the number that matters is the one this bender makes today.

A test bend in millimetres

Working metric, pick a round mark: a line at 9 13/16" (250 mm) from the end, a full 90, and the back of the bend measures 14 3/4" (375 mm). Take-up is 375 − 250 = 4 15/16" (125 mm) for that bender and pipe. Save it in millimetres and every metric stub on that setup is height − 125 from the end: a 11 13/16" (300 mm) stub marks at 6 7/8" (175 mm).

A bender with the stamp worn off

A yard bender with no readable stamp. Put a line at 10" (254 mm) from the end of a scrap — a round number is easier to subtract — bend a full 90, stand it against a wall and measure to the back of the bend: 16 1/2" (419 mm). Take-up is 16 1/2 − 10 = 6 1/2" (165 mm). Save it under that pipe size in the box above and the stub-up, kick and back-to-back pages will offer it under their take-up field.

Making the test bend

Measure. A scrap of the same size and type of pipe you will be bending, long enough to stand up after the bend — 2' 0" (610 mm) is plenty.
Mark. A line at a round figure from the end, 10" (254 mm) say, all the way round.
Line up. Arrow on the line, with the marked end on the hook side — that short end becomes the stub. Same reference and the same way round as every stub you will bend on the job.
Bend. A full 90, pulled the way you pull — foot on, steady, a touch past for springback. Check it against something square; a test bend at 88° gives a take-up you cannot use.
Check. Stand the stub on the floor and measure to the back of the bend, not the inside. Finished height − mark = take-up. Type both above and save it per pipe size.

What went wrong

The take-up you derived does not work either

What you see: you measured a test bend, used the figure, and the next stub is still off.

Why: the test bend was measured to the inside of the bend, or to the top of the pipe instead of the back, or was not a full 90.

Fix: measure the test bend the same way you measure the job: floor to the back (outside) of the 90, with the stub standing plumb against a wall.

It worked yesterday

What you see: the saved figure is right on one bender and wrong on another that looks the same.

Why: take-up belongs to a specific shoe and a specific pipe size. A different make, a different size, or a shoe with a lot of miles on it is a different number.

Fix: save one figure per pipe size per bender you actually use, and do a test bend on any tool you have not measured.

Two people, two answers

What you see: the same bender gives two apprentices take-ups 1/2" (13 mm) apart.

Why: one pulls to the mark and one pulls well past it and lets it spring back; one keeps the pipe seated and one lets it lift. Technique moves the number.

Fix: whoever is bending the job derives the figure. It is their number.

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.

Which bender these numbers assume — and how to adjust

The geometry belongs to the angle, not the tool. What the tool changes — its reference marks, its take-up and gain, its springback — is yours to read off the shoe or prove on scrap, never a table here (the four test bends). For this bend:

Take-up belongs to the shoe and the pipe size, so there is nothing to assume: the number you find from the test bend is the number, for that bender and that size, until the shoe wears or you change the pipe. Do the test on the pipe you will actually bend — EMT and rigid of the same trade size take up differently on the same shoe, and two benders carrying the same stamp need not agree.

Preguntas

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, 1/4" (6.4 mm) tall, your real take-up is 1/4" (6.4 mm) 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.