Tag Archives: Square and Rectangular Tube Bending

“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.

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

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

“Meandering River Bridges” with Curved Steel Structures Highlight Phase 1 of the Newberg/Dundee Bypass in Oregon

Phase 1 of the Newberg/Dundee Bypass road in Oregon includes more than ten bridge structures, where the bypass crosses over creeks, wetlands, railroads, or travels over or under other local roads. The Corridor Theme is “Meandering River and Rolling Hills.” The theme includes an open form for bridge structures, which allows views for drivers under the structure and provides opportunities for smooth transitions into the surroundings. A “meandering river” concrete relief is stamped into the concrete railing and an ornamental “rolling hills” design is used where screening is required. That is where we come in! We rolled various tube steel to create the “rolling hills” on the bridges. We rolled:

16 lengths of tube steel 10″ X 4″ X .375″ WALL A500 GR B (30 pcs total) bent the hard way to 15 different radii from 9 ft to 158 ft.
9 lengths of tube steel 12″ X 8″ X .375″ WALL A500 GR B (16 pcs total) bent the hard way to 5 different radii from 28 ft to 58 ft.
19 lengths of tube steel 3″ X 3″ X .313″ WALL A500 GR B (56 pcs total) to 26 different radii from 5 ft to 200 ft.

Curved Steel for the Newberg/Dundee Bypass Bridges

Custom 12″ x 8″ HSS Spiral Stringer for Spiral Staircase in Utah

We recently spiral bent tube steel 12″ X 8″ X .625″ WALL A500 GR B Spiral the Easy way to a 173” radius for a customer spiral staircase located in Utah. Square and rectangular tubing is also known as HSS (hollow structural steel). Albina has the ability to bend both square and rectangular tubing. For rectangular tubing we can bend both the easy way (against the weak axis) and the hard way (against the strong axis). We can even provide Multi-Plane bending where we are bending both the easy way AND the hard way. Albina is a unique shop in that we can bend very small square materials such as TS ½” x ½” x .049” wall all of the way up to very large materials such as TS 20” x 12” x .625” wall, which happens to be the largest size that mills produce. Albina actually has a larger capacity than TS 20” x 12” x .625” wall, which means we can bend materials larger then what the mills produce!

HSS Spiral Stringer for custom Spiral staircase

HSS Spiral Stringer for custom Spiral staircase

HSS Spiral Stringer for custom Spiral staircase

HSS Spiral Stringer for custom Spiral staircase

Curved Steel Spiral Staircase for the New American Airlines Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas

Albina recently used our induction heating process to spiral bend Tube Steel 16″ X 16″ X .625″ WALL A500 GR B bent down to a an 18 foot radius for the 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. Including the 16″ square, we have produced another set of spirals and have one in the queue. The one in the queue is Tube Steel 14″ x 6″ x .625″ wall REALLY tight, exposed and bent to a 5′-6″ radius on a 45° pitch. We already made a mock up for the job and all parties loved it. These are the type of bends that ONLY Albina can do! This is a really amazing project! Stay tuned for more pictures.

Curved Steel spiral stringer American Airlines Headquarters

Curved Steel spiral stringer American Airlines Headquarters

Curved Steel spiral stringer American Airlines Headquarters

Curved Steel spiral stringer American Airlines Headquarters