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Blog posts tagged with 'square and rectangular tube bending'

"The Spheres" Grace the Cover of Structure Magazine
"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
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.

Curved Tube Steel Rolled the hard way for vestibule frames

Curved Tube Steel Rolled the hard way for vestibule frames
Exterior Images of Curved Steel at The Madison Center "Great Room" in Seattle, Washington
Exterior Images of Curved Steel at The Madison Center "Great Room" in Seattle, Washington

We were in Seattle this weekend and were able to get some exterior pictures of The Madison Center. 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 back up to Seattle next week to get some interior shots. Stay tuned!

Curved Steel Roof Structure at the Madison Center Seattle, WA.
Exterior Picture of The Madison Center Great Room

Madison Center Great Room Curved Tube Steel Roof Structure
The Great Room Rotunda

Curved Steel Wide Flange Roof Structure at the Madison Center Seattle, WA.
Close up of Curved Steel Wide Flange, Tube Steel and Pipe

Steel Spiral Staircase in the Great Room at the Madison Center
Curved Steel Spiral Staircase
"The Seattle Spheres" win Presidential Award for Excellence in Fabrication
"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
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
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.
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-2

curved steel roof structure rainbow recreational center-3
Curved Steel Provided for the Eli Lilly San Diego Biotech Center in La Jolla
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

Curved Steel Facade for the Eli Lilly San Diego Biotech Center

Curved Steel Entry Facade for the Eli Lilly San Diego Biotech Center
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