We recently bent 215 pieces of .79” OD X .083” WALL C-276 for a chemical processing application. C-276 alloy is one of the most corrosion resistant alloys currently available. This project is a perfect example of how consistent, accurate and reliable we are with jobs that require extreme precision!
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 is not only known for bending large structural members, but we service a wide range of manufacturing companies. We have consistently bent hydraulic lines for a local manufacturing company in Portland Oregon. We will bend 100’s of parts at a time on our CNC equipment. A recent production run was bent out of ½” OD X .049″ WALL T316 S/S material. This customer required some very specific radii. We did not have all of the tooling to match the exact needs. So to service our customer and meet their requirements, Albina purchased tooling to meet every radii our customer required!
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.
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.
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!
We bend all sizes of angle that the mill produces, up to 8” x 8” x 1¼”. We can bend all types of angle as well; including aluminum, stainless and carbon steel. Carbon angle (mill produced) is classified as ASTM A36 resulting in a yield point (PSI) of 36,000 minimum. We bend all stock lengths as well as non-stock lengths. Stock lengths range from 20 to 40 feet. Angle is produced with equal legs and unequal legs. Unequal legs would measure differently on the horizontal leg versus the vertical leg. We have the ability to bend angle with the leg in, leg out, heel in, heel out and heel up. We also have the ability to bend bulb flat. Bulb flat is similar to angle with one of the legs cut down to a very short “stub”. We can bend bulb flat with the stem out and the stem in. We can bend all mill sizes produced up to 430 mm x 20 mm (16.93” wide x .787” thick). Bent angle can be used for many different applications. The most common application would be angle flanges which are full circles that are used to join sections of pipe together. Bent angle is also used for canopies, roof trusses and tunnel shoring applications.
Angle Leg Out
Angle Heel Up
We spent this last weekend in Seattle as we took our son and some friends up to a Mariners game. We had Saturday morning to spend in the city, and everywhere we looked, we stumbled upon projects containing curved steel that we have been a part of! The Jimmy Hendrix Museum, The Spheres and Spiral Staircase at The Spheres, the New Spiral Staircase in the Space Needle, the Canopy at the Seattle Great Wheel, the Dale Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum, the pedestrian bridge at the Museum of Flight, and art projects outside of corporate offices. The list goes on! What a true experience to see Brian showing the kids all of the curved steel projects Albina has done over the years! It was a great teaching moment to explain how the entire process works from the beginning of a project to the end and how all the different players work together to accomplish one final product. We were extremely proud to be the steel bender of choice for these amazing projects in the Pacific Northwest. And stay tuned, there are great things happening in the PNW and many more high profile projects coming up!
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!
We recently bent 6″ SCH10 A53A ERW rolled to a 4’ 0” radius. We were instructed to bend the material in 180° sections and the customer was then going to make them into full circles. It is our understanding that these rings will be hung from the ceiling, painted and wrapped in ribbon for a Hulu convention.
Do you like movies and the academy awards? Check out a recent project that we have been working on for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
We have bent and shipped approximately 328,000# of bent steel for this project.
Materials consisting of:
Tube Steel 12″ X 6″ X .375″ WALL A500 GR B
Tube Steel 8″ X 4″ X .375″ WALL A500 GR B
Tube Steel 6″ X 6″ X .375″ WALL A500 GR B
6″ OD X .375″ WALL A500 GR B
3″ X 3″ X ¼” ANGLE A36
Wide Flange W14 X 145# A992
Wide Flange W14 X 90# A992
Wide Flange W14 X 68# A992
Wide Flange W14 X 48# A992
Wide Flange W16 X 77# A992
Wide Flange W24 X 55# A992
183 pieces in total were bent the easy way and others were bent the hard way down to the tightest radius of 56 feet. Check back for erection pictures very soon! It is going to be quite and amazing building!