The Madison Center is a 530 foot tall, 36 story high rise office building in Seattle, Washington and is featured in the June edition of Modern Steel. Albina Co., Inc. was the bender/roller on this project and worked specifically on what is being called “The Great Room” which is a 45-foot tall steel framed entryway rotunda. Albina bent many material types for this project including tube steel 8″ x 6″ up to 12″ x 12″, 3″ x 3″ angle, W10 and W16 wide flange, 8″ pipe and more. Check out the article for some more details on the architectural feat and some great pictures. We will be heading up to Seattle soon to get some pictures of our own to share. Stay tuned!
Tag Archives: bending HSS
“The Seattle Spheres” win Presidential Award for Excellence in Fabrication
The May 2019 Edition of Modern Steel Magazine features an article on the Seattle Spheres as they won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Fabrication!
Albina Co., Inc. was the steel bender/roller for the Curved Steel Bio-Sphere buildings in Seattle, WA. Albina bent 750,000# and 1,050 pieces rectangular tube steel bent the easy way and a portion bent off-axis. Almost 8 miles of welding work and grinding was avoided because of Albina’s ability to bend a portion of the project. Almost NO correction was needed during fabrication or erection as the bends fit to the fixtures within 1/32nd of an inch!
Curved Tube Steel Used on Timber Equipment
We recently completed a project consisting of 400 pieces of bent tube steel 4″ X 4″ X .375″ WALL A500 GR B for a customer on the east coast. All parts were cut and trimmed by Albina to a 1/16” tolerance. These bent parts will be used on equipment for the timber industry.
Curved Steel Tubing for Farming Equipment
We recently completed a great project where our bends will be used for various parts on high-end farming equipment. The bending project consisted of three different material types including:
Tube Steel 5″ X 5″ X .250″ WALL A500 GR B- Albina cut and bent material to net 108 pcs.
Tube Steel 5″ X 2″ X .250″ WALL A500 GR B- Albina cut and bent material to net 100 pcs.
Tube Steel 2″ X 2″ X .250″ WALL A500 GR B- Albina cut and bent material to net 403 pcs.
Elliptical Bends Provided for Universal Palms Hotel Pool Renovation
Albina recently bent 100 lengths of TS 2″ X 1″ X .125″ WALL 6061-T6 aluminum in elliptical configurations. All of the ellipse bends had to be within 1/8″ of the template provided and it was critical that all parts match each other. This was a rush project that was required just a few days after receipt of material. The ellipse bends will be used in the newly renovated pool at the Universal Palms Hotel in Florida. The hotel was recently purchased by a group of New York investors that plan to re-brand the hotel under the Choice Hotels franchise.
Curved Steel Roof Structure at Rainbow Recreational Center in Oakland, CA.
Albina recently bent 96,000# of steel consisting of 75 pieces of TS10″ X 6″ X .500″ WALL A500 GR B and TS 10″ X 6″ X.625″ WALL A500 GR B bent the hard way for the curved Steel roof structure at the Rainbow Recreation Center in Oakland, CA. The renovation and expansion of the Rainbow Rec Center is a 13.7 million dollar project expected to be completed by Spring 2019.
VERY TIGHT Spiral Stringer!
The Albina Co., Inc. team recently spiraled a true HSS stair stringer to a very tight configuration for a spiral staircase project in Washington. The project consisted of using an induction heat source, on our custom made bending equipment, to spiral bend tube steel 16″ X 12″ X .625″ WALL A500 GR B the easy way to a 77” Center Line Radius. VERY TIGHT and VERY IMPRESSIVE! Great work team!
Curved Steel Provided for the Eli Lilly San Diego Biotech Center in La Jolla
Albina provided 109,000# of bent steel for the Eli Lilly San Diego Biotech Center in La Jolla, CA. Eli Lilly doubled the size of its research facility to 300,000 square feet during this project.
Materials included:
8″ X 8″ X 5/8″ ANGLE A36- half of the parts rolled leg in and half of the parts rolled leg out.
Tube Steel 8″ X 8″ X .500″ WALL A500 GR B
8 5/8″ OD X .625″ WALL A500B
Wide Flange W16 X 57# A992- Split into WT8 and rolled some parts stem in and rolled some parts stem out.
Wide Flange W24 X 103# A992- DOUBLE split to a finished height of 8¼” tall. Albina then rolled some parts stem in and other stem out.
Install Progress Picture of Curved Steel Spiral Staircase for the New American Airlines Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas
Back in June, I posted a picture of some spiral bent Tube Steel 16″ X 16″ X .625″ WALL A500 GR B bent down to a an 18 foot radius, using our induction heating process, for the new American Airlines headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to the 16″ square, we produced another set of spirals consisting of Tube Steel 14″ x 6″ x .625″ wall REALLY tight, exposed and bent to a 5′-6″ radius on a 45° pitch. Below is a progress picture of the installation of these spiral stringers.
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!
Custom Made 1940’s Bending Machine Displayed On-Site at “The Smith-sonian” in Honor of 80 Years in Business!
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.
