Blog

As part of AISC's (American Institute of Steel Construction) mission to make sure that architects and developers have accurate and factual information regarding the design and construction of buildings and bridges, they have created a series of white papers exploring various issues related to specifying steel as the primary building material on projects. The first one that I would like to highlight is "More Than Recycled Content, The Sustainable Characteristics of Structural Steel" which focuses primary on the fact that domestically produced and fabricated structural steel used for structural framing systems has an average recycled content of 93%. This white paper also addresses important environmental issues such as reuse, resiliency, water consumption, waste generation, energy consumption and more. Visit AISC for more detailed information and a link to read the full white paper. We also address many of these same issues on our own website in "Facts About Curved Steel." and in our "Top 10 Reasons to Specify Structural Steel."

If you answered yes, than you should consider wearbacks for your elbows. For decades, Albina has supplied customers with bent elbows where we weld a plate or channel to the outside of the bend (acting as the wearback). A wearback is installed to act as an additional layer to the bend, when the backside of an elbow finally is worn through, any materials running in the piping system will remain inside and the piping system will continue to function due to the extra layer of material on the backside of the elbow. We recently bent some 8" SCH80 T304L S/S SMLS to 30° elbows. After bending the elbows, we bent and fabricated wearbacks out of ½” stainless plate and welded the wearbacks to the outside of the pipe elbows.

We have all heard about drones and how they may play a role in our future. Like it or not, drone technology is getting better and better and the areas of the business sector where they can and will play a large roll in the growth and development of certain areas of business. Albina has just finished rolling 50,000# of steel for a new UNMANNED AIRCRAFT HANGAR. For this project we rolled 6” angle, square tubing 3" x 3" and 6" x 6", as well as wide flange ranging from W8# to W18#. Stay tuned for some installation pictures in the near future.

We live in a very uncertain world right now, but we try to remind ourselves every day that "There is Always Something for Which to Be Thankful." We can only control what goes on in our own little circles of life and it is more important now, more than ever before, to take the time to say "Thank You" to the people who have made an impact or impression on either our personal or professional lives. We are thankful.... For our Loyal Customers: We truly appreciate your business, and we're grateful for the trust you've placed in us. We are looking forward to another strong year and continuing our joint efforts to add the functionality, beauty, and drama of curved steel to the building and manufacturing worlds! For our Outstanding Vendors: We are thankful that we have such a strong vendor base to meet, and often times exceed, all of our daily business needs. We value the relationships we have spent years building and hope that 2018 brings continued new projects and growth. For our New Customers: "Thank You" for giving us a shot to be your steel bender of choice! We hope that your experience was a positive one and that we can continue to service your steel bending needs at the highest level. We are thankful for you giving us the opportunity to show you what we can do for you. For our Employees: Our employees are part of the Albina family and so many of us have been around for decades battling through the many ups and downs of our economy. We have a very strong team in place right now and we are ready to meet the challenges ahead whatever they may be. We are thankful and grateful for their dedication to the Albina family and the time and efforts they spend servicing our many wonderful customers. We hope to have the pleasure of doing business with you for many years to come. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. [caption id="attachment_1373" align="aligncenter" width="4032"] We are Thankful for the Opportunity to participate in the Consano Organization- A non-profit crowdfunding platform for medical research. We got involved in the organization when my father, Bill ,was diagnosed with a desmoplastic melanoma, that lead to his eventual passing in 2011. Albina is grateful to the Consano Organization for all of their wonderful work![/caption]

Our new plate roll is busy and we have some great projects on the machine right now. We are in the process of bending material for some custom tanks made out of Nickel material. This project consists of various tanks rolled to different diameters. All material is Nickel 201 ranging in thickness from 3/16” to 3/8”. The plate sections are up to 72” long prior to rolling. Diameters we are rolling to range from 57” to 107”. In addition to the tanks we are proving the cooling tubes as well. Cooling tubes are bent out of 1” Sch40 Nickel 201 (with terminals) to match the diameter of the tanks. Needless to say, this is a fun and challenging project!

Albina Co., Inc. is not just a structural steel bending shop! Some of our biggest customers are manufacturing companies that require bent material and repeat jobs of small parts. We recently finished a project that required some complex tube bends on our CNC draw bending equipment out of the following materials: 136 pieces of 1" OD X .065" WALL T304 S/S bent to a 2½” center-line radius. 136 pieces of Tube Steel 1" X 1" X .083" WALL T304 S/S bent to a 3½” inside radius. 68 pieces of ½" OD X .049" WALL T304 S/S bent to a ½” center-line radius. All parts were cut, bent, washed and packaged by Albina Co., Inc. for shipment. Prior to shipping all parts needed to be free of dirt, debris and oil.

Albina is your steel bending expert for large material as well as small material! We just finished a project that required 650 safety bollards. Bollards are thick, low posts, usually made of iron or steel for the purpose of diverting traffic from an area or road and also often used on a wharf for fastening mooring lines. This particular project was used for auto traffic diversion and the bollards were constructed out of 2" SCH40 A53B ERW BARE, bent to a 6” center-line-radius x 180 degrees. We produce custom bollards for urban traffic and vehicle control, for fastening mooring lines, as barriers and barricades, for pedestrian security, for ornamental landscape structures and for unique bike rack solutions.

Our capacities keep on expanding with the arrival of two new machines! We just received new 2" and 3-1/2 capacity draw bending machines. Rotary draw, or compression bending occurs when material is bent by rotating it around a bend die (and typically pulled or pushed over mandrel rod). A bend die is formed to fit a specific material size/type and at a specific diameter to fit the bend requirements. The material to be bent is clamped to the bend die and then is drawn, or pulled, around the bend die until the desired degree of bend is met. This method produces clean, tight radii bends and is mainly used by manufacturers or industrial companies. [caption id="attachment_1358" align="aligncenter" width="1632"] 2" Rotary Draw Bender[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1356" align="aligncenter" width="1632"] 3-1/2" Rotary Draw Bender[/caption]

Albina has finished the steel bending for the new LAX Midfield Satellite Concourse North Project. This project was part of an estimated $1.2 billion dollar modernization program at Los Angeles International Airport. Albina partnered with Schuff Steel and we bent over 1.2 million pounds of curved HSS (Hallow Structural Steel) as well as structural steel members for the project. This project consisted of various structural shapes and sizes and resulted in 0% rework. The steel bending was done over 7 months and we were able to meet or exceed all of our customers scheduling requirements. The satellite concourse will be a remote facility initially served by an airport busing operation and a passenger access tunnel (PAX) connection to the Bradley West Terminal. The new MSC will permit greater flexibility in scheduling improvements at other facilities, reduce reliance on remote gates, and ensure a high level of service for LAX passengers. [caption id="attachment_1352" align="aligncenter" width="1311"] Bent HSS (Hallow Structural Steel) For LAX Midfield Satellite Concourse North Project[/caption]

Albina really enjoyed seeing some of our valued customers at the NASCC trade show earlier in 2017. After the show Albina was asked to spiral bend some TS 20" X 4" X .500" WALL A500 GR B material! This very difficult material was successfully bent by Albina to a varying pitch over the entire length. This bending project was for the Cambridge North Bridge at the University of Kansas. This particular customer is located in Kansas. They know, if you want it done right, you call Albina. No matter how far away they are located.