Hi!
I'm re-working my clamps situation, and need some advice on pipe. I've searched an searched and read and read... not a lot of consensus out there on a seemingly simple topic.
I saw a youtube recently where the poster uses "plated electrical conduit" cut to shorter lengths and joined with couplings.
Benefits to his approach are:
- Zinc? plated surface (as opposed to hot dip galvanized) provides better "bite" for the clamp hardware
- Shorter lengths joined together allow easier storing of shorter clamps and a lot of flexibility in sizing your clamps
- electrical conduit couplings easily screw on/off (as opposed to taper thread couplings that cinch tighter the further they are threaded)
My issue is... there's a lot of pipe out there, and tough to make head's or tails of.
EMT conduit is very cheap ($5 for 10 feet) but is thin walled, bendy, and unable to be threaded. So this one is out.
Intermediate Metallic Conduit (IMC) is interesting... able to be threaded, stronger than EMT, lighter than RMC... Maybe?
Rigid Metallic Conduit (RMC), in galvanized steel, I think is what is typically used by most. When (say) Grainger talks of RMC being "galvanized" are they talking about "hot dipped galvanized" (in other words, not a change from the slipping issue I have already?). My local electrical supply houses have no idea what I'm asking when I call them.
Rigid also comes in aluminum, which seems like it would be much friendlier to carry around the shop etc. But is it strong enough?
So.......... my questions recap:
- Agree that EMT is too thin to use?
- Would IMC be a candidate?
- Is galv steel RMC the typical product used?
- Is "galvanized" RMC the same thing as "hot dip galvanized"?
- Is aluminum a candidate?