Tag Archives: bending HSS

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.

Albina 80th Anniversary "The Smith-sonian"

Albina 80th Anniversary "The Smith-sonian"

Albina 80th Anniversary "The Smith-sonian"

Meet Brian and Jaime Smith-Our New DAVI Bending Machine is Rolling!

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.

Brian and Jaime Smith by the Davi Machine

Brian and Jaime Smith by the Davi Machine

Curved Steel Bent for the St. Augustine Cathedral Square Conference Center in Tucson, AZ.

Albina provided 41,000# of bent steel to a Arizona fabricator for the St. Augustine Cathedral Square Conference Center and Offices project located in Tucson, AZ.
Albina was responsible to bend 13 different materials including angle, square tubing and rectangular tubing. Sizes ranged from 2” x 1½” angle up to TS 16” x 4” rectangular tubing. This project shipped on multiple trucks, but to help reduce freight costs to our customer we were able to combine the different releases with other goods shipping to the area allowing our customer to pay for partial trucks vs. full trucks.

The bent steel is part of a $12 million, 50,000 square foot four story complex (click here to see rendering). The first, third and fourths floors will house the cathedral offices, while a 500 seat conference and education center will reside on the second floor.

Curved Steel Gates at Chicago Cubs Spring Training Facility of Sloan Park

We spent Thanksgiving touring around the beautiful state of Arizona. We saw many of the beautiful sights in Sedona and even went to visit the Grand Canyon. One of the highlights of the trip was our stop at Sloan Park, home of the Chicago Cubs Spring Training. We were anxious to see the field, but equally as excited about getting some pictures of the 50,000 pounds of steel we bent for some custom gates that sit above the stands at the park. The gates hold the overhead field lights. We bent various materials for this project including:

W6 X 15# A992. 80 pcs total. Bent the hard way to a 8’-9” radius.
C6 X 8.2# A36. 42 pcs total bent flanges in to a 10 ft radius.
WT8 X 18# A992. 4 pcs stem out and 6 pcs stem in bent to a 10 ft radius and to a 56 ft radius.
TS 3″ X 3″ X .188″ WALL A500 GR B. 30 pcs bent to a 4’-4” radius and 17 pcs bent to a 11’-6” radius.
4″ X 3″ X ¼” ANGLE A36. 20 pcs total. Some rolled leg in and others leg out. All pcs were bent to a 95 ft – 105 ft radius.
7″ X 4″ X 3/8″ ANGLE A36. 7 pcs rolled leg in and 1 pc rolled let out. All pcs were bent to a 10 ft – 90 ft radius.
MC6 X 18# A36. 4 pcs rolled the hard way to an 11 ft radius.
TS 6″ X 6″ X .250″ WALL A500 GR B. 3 pcs rolled to an 11 ft radius.
8″ X 8″ X ½” ANGLE A36. 3 pcs rolled let out to a 52 ft radius.

Curved Steel Gates Sloan Park

Curved Steel Gates Sloan Park

NEW MACHINE! Bend-Tech Dragon A400 Plasma Cutter

The Bend-Tech Dragon A400 is a commercial grade CNC tube cutting, engraving, and marking machine with the world’s most powerful CAD/CAM software. The machine will arrive in mid-November and is capable of cutting holes, notches and other designs on Round, Square, and Rectangular tubes. The machine can handle a material weight up to 400 lbs due to its heavy frame and support gate. The machine’s marking system is used for bend location marking and part identification. To see this amazing machine in action, click on this YouTube video from Bend-Tech.Yet another example of how we are willing to continue to add technology and additional machinery to service all of our customers needs!

Another IDEAS2 Awarding Winning Project in the Books (Literally)!

Sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction, the Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel (IDEAS2) recognizes projects where structural steel has been utilized in an innovative manner. We have been an integral part of many award winning projects, but this year, our curved steel was featured on the award-winning project of the UC Davis Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

In honor of this years award winners, the AISC produced a high quality coffee table flip Book of the winners. The UC Davis Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art is featured on pages 39 and 40 Feel free to check out the whole book to see the entire list of winners.

Curved Steel Roof UC Davis

Curved Steel Entry

Curved Steel Roof UC Davis

50,000 Square Foot Permeable Roof

Curved Steel Roof UC Davis

Overview of Curved Roof Structure

Picture Vault Getting Rave Reviews from Customers!

Our new “Picture Vault” has been live for almost two weeks and our customers are loving it! We have sent picture links to dozens of customers and have gotten extremely positive feedback. Customers think the vault is “cool”, “informative” and “a great way to learn about the steel bending process.”

If you haven’t heard about the vault yet, here is a recap! We recently added a new bar coding system to our shop orders which allow our operators to take pictures during various stages of a bending project. Customers can now login to a secure portion of the Albina Co., Inc. website to see their jobs in four various phases of the steel bending process: raw material, in-process, in quality control and ready to ship.The objective is to offer yet another value-added service for our customers and to keep them well informed throughout their project. Once pictures are taken and uploaded to Albina’s internal picture vault, the project manager at the customer site will receive an email with a secure login username and password, as well as a link letting them know that they have new pictures ready to view. Pictures will be categorized based on Purchase Order Number and Project Name and will remain available for viewing indefinitely. If customers like the pictures posted in the vault, they are welcome to contact us and we will provide a JPEG image for both internal or external use.

The secure site is also useful for ordering Standard Duct & Component Parts online! So quick and easy! If you haven’t ordered online yet, call us today and we will get you set-up immediately to start ordering online.

Picture Vault

This is just the first phase of the secure site. Our plan is to provide a resource for customers to view and track other items including invoices, packing slips, order confirmations, etc.

Gearing Up for Our 80th Anniversary in 2019!

We are hard at work planning lots of fun events and stocking up on lots of COOL Albina Company swag to prepare for the year-long celebration of our 80th Anniversary. We are in the planning stages of some great activities and events in order recognize all of our employees, customers and vendors that have helped us reach this milestone! We are also creating “The Museum” on site which will house one of the first ever pieces of equipment that Albina owned and used to bend materials. My Grandfather (John Smith) built our “Model-T” bending machine in the late 1930’s / 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, 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.

We hope to have “The Museum” set up and ready for visitors after the first of the new year. Stop by to see us! We are happy to take you on a tour of our shop and show you the machine!

Bending Machine powered by Model T Ford Engine

Bending Machine powered by Model T Ford Engine

Curved Steel Canopy at “The Village at Medford Center” in Medford, Oregon

We recently completed a project consisting of 82,000# of bent steel for “The Village Medford Center” in Medford, Oregon. The Village is the center of a major environmental and architectural transformation at Medford Center, which is the premier entertainment-oriented shopping and dining experience in Medford, Oregon. Part of the architectural upgrades included a new dynamic sign program featuring an arched entryway with an illuminated pendant pine cone sculpture and a new 80-foot tall architectural tower, that will be visible from the I-5 freeway.

We rolled 24 lengths of Tube Steel 16″ X 8″ X .500″ WALL A500 GR B the Hardway to a 42 foot inside radius. All material was bent to AESS standards (without heat)!

We also rolled 16 lengths of Tube Steel 6″ X 6″ X .500″ WALL A500 GR B down to as tight as a 27 foot radius.

Curved Tube Steel Canopy at The Village at Medford Center

Curved Tube Steel Canopy at The Village at Medford Center

Curved Tube Steel Canopy at The Village at Medford Center

Meet Brian and Jaime Smith: It Never Hurts to Try Something New! We Aren’t Afraid of a Little Adventure When It Comes to Our Business or Family Life!

We aren’t afraid of a little adventure when it comes to our business or our family life! We recently took a family vacation to Central Oregon and went hiking and cliff jumping at Steelhead Falls! Our kids were eager to jump and even more eager to see us jump! I started with the lower rocks and worked my way up to the bigger ones. I couldn’t let my son down! Jaime started on the lower rocks, and while she never made it up to the high ones, she found the courage to jump as our teenage daughter implored her by saying “Mom, I will be so disappointed in you if you don’t jump.” That was all it took and off she went! See our videos on YouTube.

Brian is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x3pRl7Y9kM
Jaime is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nwjR6TsDEI

At times, we are not afraid to jump into something if the experience and adventure of it is worth it in the long run. I think that my grandpa had that same philosophy when he was hired at Albina 79 years ago. We hope to keep his spirit, as well as my father’s spirit, alive in our future endeavors. We encourage and challenge you to try something new. If you haven’t used us in awhile, or if you have never used us, please consider jumping in and giving us a chance to show you what we can do. We are up to the challenge!