Blog posts of '2016' 'January'

As congress passes legislation for road improvements, bent steel parts used on heavy road equipment will play a big part in making those improvements possible. Albina services many industries and provides bent steel parts for not only automotive and heavy construction equipment, but also aircraft, aerospace, boat trailers, boats, locomotives, and agricultural farming equipment.

Curved steel is not just used to create architecturally aesthetically pleasing buildings, it is also used in smaller manufacturing applications that require consistent, accurate and repeatable bends to create parts. Albina bends steel parts for aircrafts, boat trailers, boats,agricultural farming equipment and automotive applications. We have recently done several steel bends for light rail and electric bus and car applications. Our bends are used on Locomotive frames, boat frames, deck rails and even components for homeland security helping to protect our docks and ports. [caption id="attachment_676" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Steel Bending for Locomotive Application[/caption] [caption id="attachment_720" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Steel Bending for Agricultural Application[/caption] [caption id="attachment_719" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Steel Bending for Automotive Application[/caption] [caption id="attachment_675" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Steel Bending for Marine Application[/caption]

We are happy to report that our induction heating process is a huge success! Albina has used heat to bend materials for decades, utilizing alternatives to the actual process of induction heating. We have built upon our vast knowledge base for hot increment bending and are now applying an induction heat source to our recently upgraded increment bending process. We have been operating with this process for several months now and it has been a very exciting step for Albina and for our loyal customers across the United States and Canada. Our new heating source and bending process has helped us expand the material range we can work with, radii that we can bend and it has allowed us meet the “induction only” heating requirements that certain projects specify. Call us today to learn more!

Albina recently bent very large HSS (Hallow Structural Steel) rectangular tubing 16" X 4" X .500" WALL A500 GR B for an elliptical staircase at the Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar at The Shops at Mauna Lani in Waikiki, Hawaii. Upon extensive review of the plans submitted to Albina for production, it was determined that some radius changes were required. Many of the original radii required were actually deemed “too tight” to bend. Original plans called for bends that were as tight as a 3’-8” Centerline Radius. To remedy this problem, Albina was able to provide suggestions and recommendations regarding the radii that we were able to successfully bend while maintaining a high level of AESS (architecturally exposed structural steel) quality. This was a unique project because the stringers, as detailed, included numerous different radii. Many stringers are designed with a single radius or just a few radii. This staircase was originally designed with such complexity that it would have been fabricated from 38 individually bent members. Albina’s suggestion to decrease the actual number of parts and instead “blend” some parts together helped simplify the bending process, and reduced the total number of full-penetration weld splices that customer would need to perform during fabrication. After much discussion, the staircase was redesigned, resulting in only 24 individual members (a 37% decrease in the number of bent parts and full penetration weld joints). These changes resulted in a quicker lead-time and a labor cost savings. After receiving the elliptical bends from Albina, the customer commented, "Albina worked with us on time frames and cost issues. Albina must roll these pieces perfectly or we can’t even attempt to get a finish product on this end. We are counting on these things being correct…period. Albina is not afraid to take the risk of rolling a radius that hasn’t been done before. I appreciate the consistent and un-prodded reports on job status and progression.” [caption id="attachment_711" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Curved Steel Staircase Tommy Bahama[/caption] [caption id="attachment_712" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Curved Steel Staircase Tommy Bahama[/caption]