Blog

Our office team is simply the best in the steel bending business! Each member of our Sales and Estimating team has longevity, experience and knowledge of the steel bending industry. We take great pride in our ability to quote jobs and manage them from beginning to end. We focus on communication, communication, communication! Our Quality Control and Equipment Maintenance teams ensure quality bent steel products and well-kept, high performing machines. Our shipping department focuses on combining long haul loads to keep costs down and we use dependable shippers with safe driving records. Our Accounting team makes doing business with Albina Co., Inc. a positive and seamless experience due to our extreme attention to detail and streamlined accounting processes. Our Executive Staff keeps our office running smoothly and focuses on customer support and getting people the answers they need in a timely manner. Our team is committed to working hard, working together and working efficiently to get the job done and to meet our customers’ needs on EVERY job, big or small! [caption id="attachment_955" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Albina Co., Inc. Office Team[/caption]

The erection of the curved steel "Spheres" in Seattle, Washington was completed in April 2016. Over the summer, the team of contractors began the install of the glass enclosure over the steel bio-spheres. Check out the progression in the pictures below. As a reminder, Albina’s scope of work included approximately 750,000# and 1.050 pieces of rectangular tube steel bent the easy way and a portion bent off-axis. The material was bent to tight tolerances and bent to AESS standards. The amount of welds and grinding was significant, but thanks to Albina’s ability to bend portions of the project, a significant amount of welding and grinding was avoided. Almost NO correction was needed during fabrication or erection as the bends fit to fixtures (fabrication) within 1/32nd of an inch! Check back for more pictures as the project progresses! [caption id="attachment_948" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Curved Steel Bio-Spheres Seattle, WA.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_949" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Curved Steel Bio-Spheres Covered in Glass[/caption]

Most of our steel bending production crew members have been at Albina for a majority of their careers. Our crew has a great working relationship. Having employees who have been here for a number of years and look out for each other, makes a lot of safe combined experience which definitely feeds into the quality work we do on all our projects. Our production crew takes pride in their work as they are continuously repairing and improving equipment, keeping the shop clean and uncluttered to further improve job set up, tear down and production time. [caption id="attachment_943" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Production Crew at Albina Co., Inc.[/caption]

Today we shipped out a two stop load that took some care in stacking from our veteran loaders. This load will head down to Modesto, Ca where some of this material is for the 1000 Page Mill Road Building. Then the truck will continue on to Phoenix, AZ. Where the balance of the material is to be used for a fitness center. This load included many types of materials: TS 10” x 8” x .500”Wall TS 6” x 2” x .375” Wall TS 8” x 6” x .375”Wall 3” x 3” x ¼” Angle C12 x 20.7# TS 12” x 4” x .375” Wall TS 16” x 8” x .500” Wall As you can see by the pictures, this was not very easy to puzzle together as to how best to stack the material for safe shipping as well as easy offloading. With that said, it only took our loader 3 hours to load and stack in a safe manner that both the loader and the driver were happy with.[caption id="attachment_937" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Page Mill Road Building Curved Steel[/caption] [caption id="attachment_938" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Complex Shipment of Curved Steel[/caption]

In July 2016, and article by Melissa Dalton was published in Oregons 1859 Magazine featuring treehouse architects Michael Garnier and Charles Greenwood. Albina has provided curved structural steel supports for the Garnier/Greenwood team on several of their projects. Click here to read the full article in 1859 Oregon's Magazine.

Albina recently completed 65,000# of bent steel  for a curved span bridge that connects Los Angeles' Metro Universal City City Red Line Station to Universal Studio Hollywood's Wizarding World of Harry Potter Attraction. Albina bent the following structural steel materials for the 400 foot, L-shaped bridge span bridge. 14” OD x .375” Wall bent down to a 60 ft radius 16” Od x .500” wall bent down to a 59 ft radius 17” Sch80 A106B smls bent down to a 59 ft radius 8.625” OD x .500” wall API-5L bent down to a 44 ft radius 8.625” OD x .625” wall API-5L bent down to a 202 ft radius The steel was fabricated by Thomson Metal Fab. Click her to read a recent article published in Modern Steel Construction. [caption id="attachment_929" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pipe Bending for Universal Studio Hollywood Span Bridge[/caption] [caption id="attachment_930" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pipe Bending Ranging from 8.625"-17" OD Material[/caption]

Summer months in the steel bending industry always present very fun and interesting curved steel projects from various manufacturing and structural customers alike. Our shipping yard is filled with various small material, mass production runs for our customers in the manufacturing industry. [caption id="attachment_922" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pipe Bending for Boat Lifts[/caption] [caption id="attachment_923" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Heating Coils for Asphalt Trucks[/caption] In addition, we have many large material, heavy tonnage, unique bending requirements for our structural and architectural customers who are extremely busy during the summer construction months. [caption id="attachment_924" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Structural Steel Bending of Wide Flange for Store Canopy[/caption] [caption id="attachment_925" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Structural Steel Bending of Rectangular Tube for Curved Roof Trusses[/caption]   No matter the size or difficulty of your project, Albina can meet and exceed your expectations. If you have a project that requires a curved steel element, call us today!

If you plan on taking a roadtrip through Oregon this summer, program your GPS for a stop at Oregon's Historic Vista House. Vista House is an observatory at Crown Point in Multnomah County, Oregon and is a National Natural Landmark. The Vista House also serves as a memorial to Oregon pioneers. During the interior and exterior restoration of the building in the early 2000's, Albina Co., Inc. bent a curved steel handrail to not only upgrade the 1918 facade designed by Edgar M. Lazerus, but to also help make the Vista House accessible to the handicapped. The curved steel handrail lines a ramp to the entry way of the dome and on the interior a disappearing lift between levels was added to assist handicapped visitors. [caption id="attachment_914" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Curved Steel Handrail Installed 2002[/caption] [caption id="attachment_913" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Curved Steel Handrail for ADA Ramp[/caption] [caption id="attachment_912" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Curved Pipe for Custom Handrail[/caption]

Enjoy the latest install pictures of the 20” x 8” x .625” wall tube steel which provides the base supports for a heavy weight bearing spiral staircase at the Lakeside Campus in Richardson, Texas. The tube steel was spiral bent the easy way using our induction heat source and increment bend method. The tube steel was bent down to a 7’ 7” center line (plan view) radius and all bends were to AESS standards. Albina also bent tube steel 20” x 12” x .625” wall for a different section of the spiral staircase. The 20″ x 12″ material was bent down to a 13’ 9” center line (plan view) radius and all bends were to AESS standards.The specifications to bend to a center line radius this tight is almost unheard of, but Albina was able to do it to perfection! [caption id="attachment_909" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Steel Spiral Stringers for Heavy Weight Bearing Spiral Staircase[/caption] [caption id="attachment_908" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Tube Steel 20" x 12" and 20" x 8" for Spiral Staircase at Lakeside Campus in Richardson, Texas[/caption] [caption id="attachment_907" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Steel Spiral Stringers Installed[/caption]