By Blissom · Updated 2026-11-04
Layout values: check them against your own bender, on scrap first.
What 10° offsets are for
Ten degrees is the shallowest angle printed on most hand benders, and it is used where the conduit only has to move a little:
- Box offsets. Lifting EMT off the wall by about 1/2" so it enters a surface box straight. The full walkthrough is on the box offset page.
- Over straps, strut and clamps. A pipe crossing a 1-5/8" strut or a clamp on a neighboring run needs a 1" to 2" jog, not a steep one.
- Easing into a knockout. A single 10° kick near a box lines a pipe up with a knockout that sits slightly off the run, without the second bend of a full offset.
- Exposed runs that must look straight. A 10° jog reads as a gentle step; a 45° jog on a finished wall reads as a hard kink.
Shrink is tiny, so the marks rarely move, and each offset uses only 20° of the 360° allowed between pull points, the least of any sticker angle.
10° chart, 1/4" to 24"
Sticker values: depth × 6 and depth × 1/16", to the nearest 1/16". The last column is what you actually get if you lay out with 6 and bend a true 10°.
| Depth | Between bends | Shrink | Advance | Depth at a true 10° |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4" | 1-1/2" * | 0" | 1-7/16" | 1/4" |
| 1/2" | 3" | 1/16" | 2-13/16" | 1/2" |
| 3/4" | 4-1/2" | 1/16" | 4-1/4" | 13/16" |
| 1" | 6" | 1/16" | 5-11/16" | 1-1/16" |
| 1-1/4" | 7-1/2" | 1/16" | 7-1/16" | 1-5/16" |
| 1-1/2" | 9" | 1/8" | 8-1/2" | 1-9/16" |
| 1-3/4" | 10-1/2" | 1/8" | 9-15/16" | 1-13/16" |
| 2" | 12" | 1/8" | 11-5/16" | 2-1/16" |
| 2-1/2" | 15" | 3/16" | 14-3/16" | 2-5/8" |
| 3" | 18" | 3/16" | 17" | 3-1/8" |
| 3-1/2" | 21" | 1/4" | 19-7/8" | 3-5/8" |
| 4" | 24" | 1/4" | 22-11/16" | 4-3/16" |
| 5" | 30" | 5/16" | 28-3/8" | 5-3/16" |
| 6" | 36" | 3/8" | 34" | 6-1/4" |
| 8" | 48" | 1/2" | 45-3/8" | 8-5/16" |
| 10" | 60" | 5/8" | 56-11/16" | 10-7/16" |
| 12" | 72" | 3/4" | 68-1/16" | 12-1/2" |
| 16" | 96" | 1" | 90-3/4" | 16-11/16" |
| 20" | 120" | 1-1/4" | 113-7/16" | 20-13/16" |
| 24" | 144" ‡ | 1-1/2" | 136-1/8" | 25" |
* Marks under 2" apart: too close for a hand bender, so the shallowest practical 10° offset is about 5/16". ‡ Spacing longer than a 10' stick (120"); a 10° offset that deep is not realistic. Shrink shows 0" where it rounds below 1/32".
The 6 is not 5.759: why 10° runs deep
The true multiplier is 1 ÷ sin 10° = 5.759. Bender guides print 6. That is the largest gap between sticker and trig on any common angle, and it always errs the same way: the marks end up too far apart, so a true 10° bend at each mark lifts the pipe about 4.2% more than you asked.
On a 1/2" box offset that is under 1/32", which nobody can see. At 6" it is 1/4", and at 12" it is 1/2". If the depth matters, space the marks at depth × 5.76 instead.
Shrink has the opposite bias. The exact value is 0.0875" per inch against the 1/16" rule, so the rule leaves out about 5/16" on a 12" offset. Still small, but it adds up with the depth error on long jogs.
Three jobs, three EMT sizes
Measure from the end of the pipe to where the offset has to be complete. Add the shrink, subtract the spacing for the first mark; the second mark is one spacing further on.
| Job | Depth | Finish at | Spacing | Shrink | Mark 1 | Mark 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2" EMT, into a surface box whose knockout sits 3/4" off the wall | 3/4" | 24" | 4-1/2" | 1/16" | 19-9/16" | 24-1/16" |
| 3/4" EMT, over a run of 1-5/8" strut | 1-5/8" | 40" | 9-3/4" | 1/8" | 30-3/8" | 40-1/8" |
| 1" EMT, past a 1" pipe clamp | 1" | 36" | 6" | 1/16" | 30-1/16" | 36-1/16" |
Shoe radius is no limit at this angle: two 10° arcs only overlap below about 1/8" (1/2"), 3/16" (3/4"), 3/16" (1"), estimated from 2·R·(1 − cos 10°) for Klein 51606, Klein 51607, Greenlee 842AH shoes. The spacing rule above bites first.
One degree off is a lot here
Depth is spacing × sin(angle bent). Because the angle is small, the sine changes fast relative to its size. Take a 1/2" box offset with the marks 3" apart:
| Both bends at | Depth | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 8° | 7/16" | −16% |
| 9° | 1/2" | −6% |
| 11° | 9/16" | +14% |
| 12° | 5/8" | +25% |
A one-degree miss shifts a 10° offset by around a tenth of its depth; the same miss on a 45° offset is under 2%. On a box offset that is the difference between a connector that seats and one you have to spring. Use the 10° sight mark on the shoe, and on spring-back-prone pipe pull a touch past and check.
Where 10° stops making sense
Spacing grows six times as fast as depth. Past about 2" of depth the pair of bends is a foot or more apart and the offset eats a long piece of the run. That is where 22.5° takes over: under half the spacing, still gentle on the wire. The table above shows the cut-over plainly; by 4" of depth a 10° offset needs 24" between bends.
Ten degrees is still worth keeping for deeper jogs on long, exposed runs where the pipe has to look nearly straight, or when a run already has heavy bends and you need to spend as little of the 360° as possible. You could fit 18 of them in one run, at least on paper.
Sources: NEC 2023 358.24 and Chapter 9, Table 2; Klein Tools Conduit Bender Guide (stub take-up, offset multipliers and shrink, saddles). Method.
Questions electricians ask
What is the multiplier for a 10 degree offset?
6. The trig value 1 ÷ sin 10° is 5.759; bender guides round it up to 6, which makes a sticker-math 10° offset come out about 4% deeper than asked if both bends are a true 10°.
What is the shrink on a 10 degree offset?
1/16" per inch of depth by the trade rule (exact 0.0875"). A 1" offset loses about 1/16", so most electricians ignore it on box offsets and only add it on deeper jogs.
How far apart are the marks for a 10 degree offset on 3/4 EMT?
Depth × 6, the same as any size. For a 1-5/8" offset that has to be finished 40" from the end, the marks go at 30-3/8" and 40-1/8".
Is a box offset a 10 degree offset?
Usually. A box offset is a 10° offset about 1/2" deep, marks 3" apart, made with a hand bender or a dedicated box offset bender.
Why is my 10 degree offset too deep?
Two common reasons: the 6 multiplier itself overshoots by about 4%, and at 10° every extra degree adds roughly a tenth of the depth. Bend slightly under 10° or close the marks a little.
Shallow offsets without the guesswork
- Marks from the end of the pipe for any depth, shrink included
- Flags marks too close together for the shoe to make
- Exact or sticker math at any angle, 10° or 7° or 12°
- Corrected for your shoe, and works without signal
Android only. There is no iPhone version yet; the free calculators on this site work on any phone.
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