Tag Archives: curved steel

Curved Steel Helps to Create a Unique & Meaningful Monument in Des Moines

“A Monumental Journey” by Kelly James Marshall for the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation. The monument is featured in the August issue of Modern Steel “What’s Cool In Steel.” The monument celebrates the legacy of African American laywers who founded the the National Bar Association in 1925 and the monument symbolizes communication among diverse people and legal system, that while not perfect, strives to be balanced. Find more details about the project in the above article featured in Modern Steel.
Albina bent various materials for this project including:
3 x 40 ft: 5″ X 5″ X 5/16″ ANGLE A36. Cut and bent to net 8 pcs (leg out). Bent down to a 68” inside radius.
1 x 20 ft: MC3 X 7.1# A36. Cut and bent to net 2 pcs (flanges in).
2 x 48 ft: TS 6″ X 6″ X .625″ WALL A500 GR B. Cut and bent to net 4 pcs. Bent down to a 58” inside radius.
1 x 48 ft: TS 6″ X 6″ X .375″ WALL A500 GR B. Cut and bent to net 2 pcs. Bent down to a 77” inside radius.

Kerry James Marshall (American, born 1955) A MONUMENTAL JOURNEY 2018 Manganese Ironspot brick, steel, granite approx. H. 30 ft, D. 19 ft

Commissioned by Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation; Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation Collection, 2018.1 Photos: Ben Easter

Curved Steel Monument
Curved Steel Monument
Curved Steel Monument
Curved Steel Monument

“The Spheres” Grace the Cover of Structure Magazine

“The Spheres”, the recipient of the AISC 2019 IDEAS2 Presidential Award for Excellence in Fabrication grace the cover of the August Issue of Structure Magazine! The article focuses on the inspiration, the vision and the design of “The Spheres.” Albina bent 750,000# and 1,050 pieces rectangular tube steel bent the easy way and a portion bent off-axis for this project. 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! Numerous Pacific Northwest businesses collaborated to make The Spheres possible.

Curved Steel Sections of The Spheres Erected
Curved Steel Sections of The Spheres Erected
The Spheres in Seattle Washington
“The Spheres” Seattle, WA.

Difficult, Tight Bends Create Unique Curved Steel Vestibule Frames

Albina recently bent some Tube Steel 6″ X 3″ X .500″ WALL A500 GR B as double 90° bends to a 17″ inside radius the hard way. These are difficult, tight bends for this material and the bends turned out perfectly! The bends will be used as vestibule frames for a lobby entry.

Tube Steel 6" X 3" X .500" WALL A500 GR B as double 90° bends to a 17" inside radius the hard way for vestibule frames
Tube Steel 6" X 3" X .500" WALL A500 GR B as double 90° bends to a 17" inside radius the hard way for vestibule frames
Tube Steel 6" X 3" X .500" WALL A500 GR B as double 90° bends to a 17" inside radius the hard way for vestibule frames

Albina Featured as the Bender/Roller on Two “What’s Cool In Steel” Projects in the August Issue of Modern Steel

Check out the August Issue of Modern Steel for “What’s Cool In Steel” Albina was the bender/roller on two of the featured projects including the Basher Pedestrian Bridge at the San Diego Zoo (pages 23-26) and a Des Moines sculpture titled “A Monumental Journey” by artist Kerry James Marshall (pages 30-31). We are working on securing some final install pictures of each of these projects! Stay tuned!

What's Cool In Steel

24,000# of Curved Steel for UC Health Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, CO.

Albina Co., Inc. bent at total of 24,000# of steel including 12 ¾” OD x .375″ wall material and MC12 x 10.6# material for the new steel-framed UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, Colorado. The project is featured in the July issue of Modern Steel Construction and the article details many of the structural design challenges as well as the importance of early involvement of specialty fabricators.

Curved Steel Roof for UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, Colorado
Curved Steel Roof for UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, Colorado
Curved Steel Roof for UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, Colorado

Modern Steel Magazine Highlights “The Madison Center” Curved Steel Features in June Issue

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!

Utah District Courthouse Spiral Staircase Graces Cover of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine in June!

Check out the cover spot and three page feature article on Albina Co., Inc. in the June Rocky Mountain Edition of A2Z Manufacturing Magazine. Pages 18-20! We had such a great time working with Linda and Kim to highlight and showcase all of the amazing curved steel projects we have done in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Some projects featured in the article include:

Sun Valley Music Pavillion in Sun Valley, ID. 220,000# of pipe rolled ranging from 10" Sch80 to 10" XXH
Sun Valley Music Pavillion in Sun Valley, ID. 220,000# of pipe rolled ranging from 10″ Sch80 to 10″ XXH
Custom Signage at Entrance to Yellow Stone National Park Attraction "Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Park"
Custom Signage at Entrance to Yellow Stone National Park Attraction “Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Park”
Ellie Caulkins Opera House Denver, CO. 210 lengths 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 3/16" angle rolled to numerous compound radii
Ellie Caulkins Opera House Denver, CO. 210 lengths 1-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ x 3/16″ angle rolled to numerous compound radii

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

Curved Steel Seat Frames for Small Airplanes

We recently finished up some  Tube Steel ¾” X ¾” X .065″ WALL 6063-T52 ALUM bent into a double 90° configuration to a 3¼” inside radius. These curved steel parts will be used for seat frames on small airplanes. We do a number of parts for the aviation and aerospace industries including hydraulic lines, exhaust lines, exterior structural parts and interior support elements like the seat frames pictured below. 

Curved Steel Seat Frames for Small Airplanes-1
Curved Steel Seat Frames for Small Airplanes-2

Working Smarter with Technology!

After many years of consideration, we determined it was the right time to move our shop workers into personal digital devices and start “working smarter.” The initial desire was to have workers get rid of the old, antiquated paper time card system and move to a better digital solution. What evolved was a very powerful personal digital device that shares a wealth of information internally and externally. Some highlights include:

1. Picture Vault. Operators have the ability to take pictures of a customer’s project during various phases of production and easily upload those pictures for sharing with the customer via our website. 
2. Time cards. We no longer fill out paper time cards or punch a clock. Workers are able to apply time automatically to orders and machines with a simple click of the button. All of the time is automatically tied into our job costing and payroll system avoiding double entry and extra handling of paper time cards.
3. Daily and Weekly Schedules are now available for all workers on their personal device, instead of being on a central computer that all workers had to walk to.
4. MTR’s are now available for workers to review for all jobs that require heat numbers to be verified and transferred.
5. Internet allows workers to access our Bending Calculators page and use our powerful bending calculators to help with daily math.
6. Email is available to certain workers that have Albina email accounts to allow for documented communication between workers.
7. Scientific calculators are available to all workers.
8. Access to Albina’s vast library of tooling.
9. Access to saved production notes for repeat parts.
10. Access to setup pictures that can be zoomed to get a detailed view of what is required.
11. Ability to preview a work order without tracking down printed paperwork.
12. Access to a company wide vacation schedule so workers know when vacation time is coming up and when vacation time is available.
13. Ability to preview a purchase order and receive a purchase order.
14. Ability to update job status and mark when parts are complete in real time.
15. Performance Review. Each worker has the ability to review production productivity and production efficiency percentages weekly, monthly and annually.These personal digital devices have become very powerful tools for our workers and certainly help with efficiency. We continue to strive to be an industry leader with innovative, “out of the box thinking.”