Blog posts of '2018' 'December'

AISC recently released the first ever Design Guide of its kind in the United States offering information on the fabrication, design and detailing of curved members and we are offering you a FREE DOWNLOAD of the Design Guide from AISC.

Design Guide 33 was a collaborative effort of the members of the AISC Bender/Roller committee. We worked together for many years to provide this invaluable resource for the industry. Modern Steel Construction recently published an article titled "Design with a Twist" in the October 2018 Issue giving a brief highlight of topics covered in the Design Guide. AISC also created a very insightful webinar for their continuing education program titled "Design of Curved Members." If you are interested in obtaining a print copy of the Design Guide to assist with your efforts in specifying curved steel members, please contact us and we will be happy to get one to you!

Back in June, I posted a picture of some induction heating process, for the new American Airlines headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to the 16" square, we produced another set of 

The 1.7 million-square-foot complex, dubbed the “Trinity complex,” consists of constructing four seven-story buildings. It will cost at least $300 million to build and will house over 6,500 employees. There are 10 tower cranes on the project and there will be more than 1,000 construction workers on-site during the peak. It is scheduled to open during the second half of 2019.  These are the type of bends that ONLY Albina can do!

We collected toys this year for the U.S. Marine Corps,"Toys for Tots". The team collected $488 in toys, and Albina Co.contributed $432, totaling $920.00 worth of toys! Way to go team!

In honor of our 80th Anniversary, Albina has created a museum on site, called “The Smith-sonian”, which honors the family name and houses one of the first ever pieces of equipment that Albina owned and used to bend materials. John Smith, Brian’s grandfather, built the “Model-T” bending machine in the early 1940’s utilizing the transmission and differential from a “Model-T” Ford. This machine was used to roll/bend various materials such as pipe, tube, and square and rectangular HSS (hollow structural steel). The machine would pull material around a bend die resulting in a smooth radius finished good. The “Model-T” was in operation at Albina until the 1990’s when it was replaced by more efficient bending equipment. “The Smith-sonian” is ready for visitors. Stop by to see us! Cheers to 80 Years! You can check out a virtual tour on YouTube.

This master bender machine offers the new and innovative iRoll camera system, allowing operators to view the part being bent compared to a radius template on the control screen. This is a new way to make quality and consistent parts. Another innovation with the master bender is the machine’s ability to “learn and remember” how different materials bend, where the rolls need to be positioned, and how much spring back is associated with a bend / material. This machine is a great fit for our shop, its size puts it right between our current Roundo R7 and R11 machines. Allowing us to reallocate work from two machines to three machines which should certainly help with our scheduling flexibility. The MCP30 will allow us to bend up to 8” x 8” angle, 9” square HSS, W16 the easy way / W12 the hard way and 14” Sch20 pipe / 12” Sch40 pipe. [caption id="attachment_1716" align="aligncenter" width="420"] Brian and Jaime Smith by the Davi Machine[/caption]