this is a little trick I use steaming curves, I used to have some trouble and this helps a lot, I steam short pcs in the microwave by first wrapping a wet towel around it works great, so I started thinking, this is the part that usually gets me in trouble
, get the water boiling and get the tap water as hot as you can, then soak a rag in the hot tap water and wrap the tip and then steam, this concentrates the heat allowing better penetration and you'll get nice easy bends, hope this helps somebody, it also gives you more time to get to your bending jig at top heat, bub