Blog : Albina Co., Inc.

10 Dec 2018

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.

22 Oct 2018

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Going Above and Beyond to Meet Our Customers Needs

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!

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12 Oct 2018

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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.

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.

03 Oct 2018

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NEW “Picture Vault” Allows Albina Co,. Inc. Customers to See Pictures of their Material During Various Stages of the Steel Bending Process

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. We have added a new bar coding system to our shop orders which allow our operators to take pictures during various stages of a bending project. 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. 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.

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26 Sep 2018

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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

03 Aug 2018

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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!

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31 Jul 2018

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Curved Steel Beer Taps at 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend, Oregon

We were recently floating the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon and after a day of fun, we decided to go grab lunch and cool beverage at one of our favorite locations, 10 Barrel Brewing. As we looked at the menu, and admired the new remodel of the restaurant, we noticed the beer taps! We recently bent 1-1/2” OD x .065 wall T304 Stainless steel #4 finish. These are 90 degree bends on a 2-3/4” Center line radius. How exciting to see our work on display at such a hip location on Galveston Street!

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13 Jul 2018

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Curved Steel Handrail on the Vancouver Waterfront Walkway

We recently completed a handrail project for a walkway around the Vancouver, Washington waterfront park. The projected consisted of 12 pieces of 2½" SCH40 T304 S/S 18 pieces of 1¼" SCH40 T304 S/S 17 pieces of 2½" SCH40 A53B ERW 26 pieces of 1¼" SCH80 A53B ERW We bend handrails for commercial, recreational, transportation and residential applications. Handrail Kits Are Available: Bent and trimmed per drawing, mid-rails trimmed and coped, assemblies supplied as individual parts or fabricated complete. Call us for your next handrail project!

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06 Jul 2018

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6" Pipe Bends for Steel Rings Displayed at Hulu Convention

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. 6" pipe bends for Hulu </a

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22 Jun 2018

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Curved Steel Pipe Used for Airplane Landing Gear

Albina Co., Inc. recently completed bending 27 pieces of 1¼" OD X .156" WALL 4130 bent on a 4” radius. We were able to hold the threaded tangent dimension during the bending process. The curved steel pipe will be used for "nose landing gear" on small planes.

curved steel pipe for nose landing gear for small planes

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Blog posts tagged with 'pipe bending'