On Wed, 15 May 2013 15:07:26 -0700, wrote:

One fundemental problem that has been explained to you is that
you have two different ends of that elbow.
One end has threads that mate with the nut for the conduit.
That end will never mate with the box.

It turned out to be even worse than you said.

Apparently the one-piece straight-through half-inch ends that I bought
from Home Depot won't work on the motor end because they actually *screw*
onto the conduit!
http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/13045123.jpg

In fact, the Ace Hardware guy was amazed that they weren't two pieces,
and he kept trying to take it apart!

His two-piece connector has a nut that holds it onto the conduit, just
like the old elbow had.

However, the one-piece Home Depot connector actually, somehow, grabs onto
the "ribs" of the conduit, to screw on tightly (patent pending I'm sure).

If I used the one-piece connector on the conduit end by the motor, it
would make spinning off that connector impossible without spinning the
motor or conduit itself!

And that's the whole problem I'm trying to avoid!