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 Steel Spheres
Curved Steel Spheres Seattle, WA.
Curved Steel Spheres Seattle, WA.

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 Tube Steel Used on Timber Equipment

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.

curved steel for high-end farming equipment-1

Tube Steel 5″ X 2″ X .250″ WALL A500 GR B- Albina cut and bent material to net 100 pcs.

curved steel for high-end farming equipment-2

Tube Steel 2″ X 2″ X .250″ WALL A500 GR B- Albina cut and bent material to net 403 pcs.

curved steel for high-end farming equipment-3

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. 

Tube Steel Elliptical Bends for Universal Palms Hotel Pool-1
Tube Steel Elliptical Bends for Universal Palms Hotel Pool-2
Tube Steel Elliptical Bends for Universal Palms Hotel Pool-3

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.

curved steel roof structure rainbow recreational center-1
curved steel roof structure rainbow recreational center-2
curved steel roof structure rainbow recreational center-3

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! 

Extremely tight spiral stringer for custom spiral staircase

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.

Curved Steel for the Eli Lilly San Diego Biotech Center

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.

steel spiral stringers for custom spiral staircase at new American Airlines Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas

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.

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.

Meet Brian and Jaime Smith - New DAVI Machince is Up and Rolling!

Brian and Jaime Smith by the Davi Machine