![Concept image for the fixture](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gooseneck-lighting-concept-666x500.jpg)
Oh hey there. As part of the theater show I’m working on I’ve been making these industrial gooseneck type things for the bar lighting. As you can see, a big part of it is the loop of conduit that goes up and around to support the fixture. I figured, no problem, I’ll just get a conduit bender from Home Despot and bend it to suit.
![You get some odd looks when you ride BART with a conduit bender.](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/IMG_20131026_174115-375x500.jpg)
So that was a disaster. I could get bends up to 90 degrees just fine, but after that the bender would start to slip on the conduit and I would get squircles rather than a continuous loop like I wanted. My results could be summarized thusly:
As I am nothing if not persistent, I went to the idea store and came up with this:
![Win.](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/WIN_20131020_172831-680x382.jpg)
There’s a circle cut from MDF on the inside radius of the conduit. As the handle is turned, it pulls the conduit in, and it’s forced to bend around the circle. I had to ask a dancer stand on it while I was bending it to get enough torque (thanks, Cici!) and it has a tendency to pulverize the MDF at the working surfaces, but heyo it works!
![Conduit being pulled into the break WIN_20131020_154344](https://www.maxpierson.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/WIN_20131020_154344-680x382.jpg)
Here’s a sneak peek work-in-progress picture of the fixtures I’m building:
I am aiming to be America’s #1 blog on improvised conduit bending machines, so more on this topic soon!