Sorry it didn't work out Paul.
I was an electrician for 10 years in our family business. I just now read through this post. I was a little concerned about the EMT myself. See now days it's pretty much galvalume, that makes it a bit lighter and easier to bend. Now I'd you could get your hands on some more vintage EMT, say from the 80's that would probably work pretty good. That stuff is as hard as heck.
I found that the brass fitting that is for a tub drain extention and a piece of 1/1/4in top rail chain link fence pipe fits good together. But haven't tried it on any billets. A friend of mine uses the junctions in the top rail chain link fence pipe for his take down sleeves.
Patrick