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We had the pleasure of staying at The Arizona Biltmore (A Waldorf Astoria Resort) recently and got to experience the new Paradise Waterslides firsthand. Equally as impressive as the slides themselves is the spiral staircase used to acend to the top of the slides. Materials Albina bent for this project included tube steel, various sizes and widths of pipe and round tube as well as several pieces of angel and channel. Next Level Steel was the fabricator on the project.

A full list of bent materials includes:

TS 12" X 3" X .375" WALL A500 GR B

22 pcs spiral bent the easy way.  11 pcs bent to a 7’-4” outside plan view radius and 11 pcs bent to a 11’-0” Inside plan view radius.  All to AESS standards.

35 pcs bent the easy way (flat).  17 pcs bent to a 7’-1” inside radius and 18 pcs bent to a 11’-0” Inside radius.  All to AESS standards.

3" OD X .250" WALL A500 GR. B

112 pcs spiral bent to various radii and configurations all to AESS standards.

2½" OD X .188" WALL A500 GR B

6 pcs spiral bent to various radii and configurations all to AESS standards.

60 pcs bent (flat) to 3’-11” up to 5’-1” radii.

1¼" SCH40 A500B UNCOATED

25 pcs spiral bent to various radii (7’-5” up to 10’-10”) and configurations all to AESS standards.

12 pcs bent (flat) to 7’-5” up to 10’-10” radii.

1½" SCH40 A500B UNCOATED

106 pcs spiral bent to various radii (7’-2” up to 11’-1”) and configurations all to AESS standards.

73 pcs bent (flat) to 7’-2” up to 11’-1” radii.

C4 X 5.4# A36

51 pcs bent (flat) the hard way to various radii and configurations

2" X 2" X ¼" ANGLE A36

260 pcs rolled – some leg-in and some leg-out.  To various radii and configurations.

3" X 3" X 3/8" ANGLE A36

1 pc rolled leg-out to a 7’-7” radius

1 pc rolled leg-in to a 11’-0” radius

3" X 3" X ½" ANGLE A36

47 pcs rolled – some leg-in and some leg-out.  To various radii and configurations.

4" X 3" X ½" ANGLE A36

1 pc rolled leg-in to a 11’-0” radius

Albina recently rolled various material for the eagle feather-inspired roof at the American Indian Hall at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. ThinkOne Construction Management designed a barrel-vaulted, curved, standing beam roof in the shape and color of an eagle feather. Metal roofing was specified to ensure durability and to create a non-penetrating attachment point for solar panels. The project was featured on page 37 of the October/November Issue of Metal Architecture. 

TS 14" X 4" X .375" WALL A500 GR B-2 pcs rolled the easy way to a 27’ -8” radius

6" X 6" X 5/16" ANGLE A36-7 pcs rolled leg out to a 92’-0” radius

4" X 4" X ½" ANGLE A36-2 pcs rolled leg out to a 107’-3” radius

Photo Credit: Jacob Teats

We also rolled the materials for the spiral staircase on this project.

MC12 X 10.6# A36

5 pcs rolled flanges out to a 67’-0” radius

4 pcs spiral rolled flanges out to a 67’-0” radius

5 pcs rolled flanges in to radii ranging from 57’-5” - 67’-5” radius

4 pcs spiral rolled flanges in to a 63’-0” radius

2" X 2" X ¼" ANGLE A36

1 pc rolled leg out to a 67’-5” radius

1 pc rolled leg in to a 67’-10” radius

Photo Credit: Jacob Teats

Albina Co., Inc. has the capability to bend almost any material that is mill produced.  Every material has its own unique shape and is also uniquely dimensioned.  We are frequently asked questions related to material dimensioning and sizing.  The focus of this blog will be beams, specifically wide flange and I-Beam “S shapes”.

1. How do you measure beams?
2. How is the sizing of steel beams determined?
3. How do you measure the width of a beam?
4. How do you measure the depth of a beam?
5. What is the difference between the web and the flange of a beam?

See the AISC Structural Steel Dimensioning Tool for detailing dimensions of all rolled sections. 

Beams come in a variety of shapes and sizes, the most common beams produced are Wide Flange and I-Beam “S shapes”.  These two materials are shaped differently but have most of the same dimensioning characteristics.

Flanges vs. Web.  Every beam will have two flanges and one web.  The flanges make-up the outside faces of the beam, while the web is the material connecting the two flanges.

The width of a beam is the dimension / length of the flange.

The depth of a beam is the outside-to-outside dimension / distance between the flanges. 

Web thickness is the thickness of material of the Web material.

Flange thickness is the thickness of material of the Flange material.

The biggest difference between I-Beam and Wide Flange is the flange thickness.  Wide Flange has a consistent flange thickness, while I-Beam does not have a consistent flange thickness, because the thickness varies over the length of the flange.  The flange thickness is thicker the closer it gets to the web.

Albina recently rolled 36 pieces of Tube Steel 6” X 6” X .375” WALL A500 GR C to AESS standards at radii ranging from 3’-9” – 24’-4” for the United States Air Force Academy Visitors Center. The visitors center is expected to open early 2024 and the 32,000 square-foot facility will include storytelling and high-tech exhibits reflecting the Air Force and Space Force missions as well as illustrating a day in the life of a cadet at the Academy.  The Visitors Center is viewed as more than a public entrance to the Academy, it is also a gateway to Colorado Springs. Six years in the making, the new area will also feature a hotel, retail space and office space. 

Below are a few videos with more details on the project. 

You Tube Video

Colorado Springs Local News Channel KKTV

They are too cool to be square! 

Albina recently rolled some pretty cool circles! We rolled the following materials:

Plate 2” THICK X 45¾” WIDE T304 S/S. Rolled to a full circle at a 41.5” outside diameter.
Plate 2½” THICK X 50½” WIDE T304 S/S. Rolled to a full circle at a 58.5” outside diameter.

For future reference, our plate rolls have the following capacities:

*Plate: 2-1/2" plate up to 10'0" in width
*Flat Bar the Easy Way: Any thickness and size thru 4" x 22"
*section is dependent on thickness to width

Common questions we receive from customers have to do with the stresses put on materials during the rolling, curving, forming, and bending processes. 

1. What stresses are put on the materials during the curving process?
2. What is the stress, strain on the steel being bent or curved?
3. Is the material weakened from the stress, strain during the curving process?
4. Is there a stress, strain diagram for curved or bent steel?
5. Is there a stress vs strain graph for curved or bent steel?

The easiest way to answer these questions is to reference the AISC Curved Member Design Guide #33.

https://www.albinaco.com/pdfs/design-guide-33.pdf

See Section 5.2 “Material Properties”

Cold bending involves inelastic straining of the member, which affects the material properties. These changes are primarily attributed to strain hardening and strain aging, which increases the yield stress, ultimate stress and hardness, and decreases the ductility and toughness. For curved members in buildings, the strains induced during the cold-bending process rarely exceed the potential strains induced in the manufacturing process of straight members.

Albina recently bent 70 pieces of 2” XXH A53B ERW and 20 pieces of 2 3/8” 1018 Solid Round to various configurations for a new art installation at Cedar Sanai Hospital in LA.  We can bend all types of pipe and tubing including aluminum, stainless and carbon steel. We even bend specialty materials such as copper, zirconium and titanium. View our Capacities Chart to see the wide range of materials and sizes we work with. 

We have added some digital jigsaw puzzles of recently completed projects to our website for your enjoyment! Puzzles will be added monthly of projects featuring curved and bent steel. Enjoy "putting together the pieces" (like our fabricators often do with our bent steel parts)!

Link to Jigsaw Puzzles

For all our customers that need assistance in calculating bending dimensions or material take-offs for bending.  Look no further than Albina’s bending calculators / Curve Calculators.  Albina’s bending calculators allow end users to calculate the following critical bending data:

1. How to calculate the arc of a bend or curve with our Arc Calculator.
2. How to calculate the degree of a bend or curve with our Degree Calculator.
3. How to calculate the Mid-Ordinate (MO) / Rise of a curve or Arc with our Mid-Ordinate Calculator.
4. How to calculate the radius of a curve with our Radius Calculator.
5. How to calculate the ovality of a round section after bending with our Ovality Calculator.
6. How to calculate the critical dimensions of a stair stringer with our Stair Stringer Calculator / Spiral Math Calculator.
7. How to calculate the degree turn in plan view for a spiral staircase (spiral stringer).
8. How to calculate the degree of pitch for a spiral staircase (spiral stringer).
9. How to calculate the arc length for a spiral staircase (spiral stringer).
10. How to quickly determine the amount of straight or tangent material needed to successfully bend a length of material or part.

Albina’s calculators can be found here:  https://www.albinaco.com/calculators

Albina also specializes in plate bending, not just HSS, Pipe, Tube, and Structural Steel bending.  Countless customers come to Albina for our plate rolling expertise, including bending plate into a cone configuration.  Many customers require a cone calculator.  There are many cone calculators available, but we typically use a calculator located here:  https://i-logic.com/conecalc/.  Not only will this calculator provide the end user with the critical cone dimensions, but also the cone flat pattern.

Happy Summer! With warmer temperatures upon us, now is the perfect time to take your family to your local aqua park or playground for some good old family fun! Albina provides steel bends for many water parks, aqua parks and playgrounds. Some material we work with includes:

Snake:  SO#183616, 183617, 182767, etc.

4" SCH40 T304 S/S- bent by Albina per customer specifications.

Flower:  SO#183613, 182769, etc.

4" SCH40 T304 S/S- bent by Albina per customer specifications.

Leaf:  SO#183614, 180906, etc.

5" SCH40 T304 S/S- bent by Albina per customer specifications.