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Customer Quote of Appreciation for Steel Bending Quality
We always love to receive positive feedback from our customers when we meet or exceed their steel bending and fabrication needs. Here is a recent quote of appreciation for some curved steel we provided for a project currently being erected in Seattle, WA. "I would like to thank you and your team for your efforts on making this project a huge success. Because of your great workmanship and detail to meeting such tight tolerances, everything is fitting up in the field with no problems. In fact most everything in the field is fitting to +/- 1/8”. The erector is 85% complete with the erection and they are hanging the steel 2-3 times faster than they had anticipated with no problems. That is phenomenal. The on-site welding inspector told us that he has never seen anything fit so well with no problems in his lifetime."  
Curved Steel Construction in Seattle, WA.
There is an impressive curved steel building currently being erected in Seattle, WA. right now! For The Spheres, Albina’s scope of work included approximately 750,000# and 1.050 pieces of bent steel material consisting of TS 9" X 5" X .500" WALL A500 GR B, TS 10" X 6" X .500" WALL A500 GR B, and TS 12" X 8" X .500" WALL A500 GR B. The curved steel sections were bent the easy way and a portion bent off-axis. All material is AESS with very tight tolerances. The project consists of 8 miles of welds and 8 miles of grinding performed by the lead fabricator! 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. The bends fit to fixtures (fabrication) within 1/32nd of an inch! Almost NO correction was needed during fabrication or erection. [caption id="attachment_750" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Curved Steel Sections Curved Steel Sections[/caption] [caption id="attachment_751" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Curved Steel Sections Erected Curved Steel Sections Erected[/caption] [caption id="attachment_752" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Curved Steel Spheres Curved Steel Spheres[/caption]
Best Production Team in the Steel Bending Industry
Why Albina's Production Team is simply the best in the industry!
  • Knowledgeable management, estimating / project management, production workers, etc. that are industry experts for bending with many years of experience (longevity).
    • excellent training for every position;
    • family business with information handed down from generation to generation;
  • Dedication to our positions, Albina and our customers, results in quality products and quality service.
  • Small company creates a friendly atmosphere to customers;
  • All of our workers take a great deal of pride in what we do and what we provide to our customers.
  • Availability for emergency situations/services.
    • We have staff ready to work OT to get quick turn-around jobs done. Also have an after-hours call list for shutdown projects.
  • Our staff will put in the extra effort to research how to do something prior to just using trial/error. Be it a new bending process, a complicated bending configuration or a new weld process that we have to write, our staff excels in finding a way to get the job done right.
  • We are an all-union shop with skilled workers!
[caption id="attachment_744" align="aligncenter" width="300"]The Albina Production Team The Albina Production Team[/caption]
State of the Art Steel Bending Facility
Albina Co., Inc. takes pride in running a clean, lean, efficient steel bending production and steel fabrication shop.  Albina Co., Inc. spends a considerable amount of time on research and development creating steel bending procedures that accommodate our customer's ever changing needs. In an effort to produce higher quality bent products, we constantly look to improve or purchase steel bending and fabricating equipment that produces unusual, non-conforming products without spending our customer's money. Every piece of steel bending equipment that Albina owns has been engineered and upgraded to perform beyond known industry specifications. [caption id="attachment_739" align="aligncenter" width="300"]State of the Art Office Facilities State of the Art Office Facilities[/caption] [caption id="attachment_740" align="aligncenter" width="300"]State of the Art Material Handling & Storage State of the Art Material Handling & Storage[/caption] [caption id="attachment_741" align="aligncenter" width="300"]State of the Art Production Equipment State of the Art Steel Bending Equipment[/caption]  
Induction Heating Process Creates Near 4D Bend
Albina Co., Inc. was recently tasked with forming 10” Sch80 pipe to a 50” center line radius. That is nearly a 4D bend! Our new induction heating source and bending process has helped us expand the material range we can work with and the radii that we can bend. It has allowed us meet the “induction only” heating requirements that certain projects specify. Call us today to learn more! [caption id="attachment_734" align="aligncenter" width="225"]10" Induction Bends to 50" CLR 10" Induction Bends to 50" CLR[/caption] [caption id="attachment_735" align="aligncenter" width="225"]10" Induction Bends to 50" CLR 10" Induction Bends to 50" CLR[/caption]
Structural Steel Bending at Peterson Auto Museum
Albina Co., Inc. bent 36 pieces of 6 5/8" OD X .375" wall round steel tubing and 384 pieces of 6" SCH80 6061-T6 ALUM to create the unique shape for the Peterson Auto Museum in Los Angeles, CA. Albina cut, bent and trimmed all pieces per the provided drawings. While most of the bent material was covered with the "skin" of the building, the bent steel parts are what gave the museum its' unique shape and appearance. Every part was slightly different and needed to be processed to very tight tolerances. Photos courtesy of Zahner. [caption id="attachment_727" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Peterson Auto Museum Bent Pipe Supports Peterson Auto Museum Bent Pipe Supports[/caption] [caption id="attachment_728" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Peterson Auto Museum Bent Pipe Supports Peterson Auto Museum Bent Pipe Supports[/caption] [caption id="attachment_729" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Peterson Auto Museum Exterior Peterson Auto Museum Exterior[/caption]
Bent Steel Helps Improve Roadways
As congress passes legislation for road improvements, bent steel parts used on heavy road equipment will play a big part in making those improvements possible. Albina services many industries and provides bent steel parts for not only automotive and heavy construction equipment, but also aircraft, aerospace, boat trailers, boats, locomotives, and agricultural farming equipment.
Steel Bending for Marine, Locomotive, Automotive & Agricultural Applications
Curved steel is not just used to create architecturally aesthetically pleasing buildings, it is also used in smaller manufacturing applications that require consistent, accurate and repeatable bends to create parts. Albina bends steel parts for aircrafts, boat trailers, boats,agricultural farming equipment and automotive applications. We have recently done several steel bends for light rail and electric bus and car applications. Our bends are used on Locomotive frames, boat frames, deck rails and even components for homeland security helping to protect our docks and ports. [caption id="attachment_676" align="aligncenter" width="300"]steel bending for locomotive Steel Bending for Locomotive Application[/caption] [caption id="attachment_720" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Steel Bending for Agricultural Application Steel Bending for Agricultural Application[/caption] [caption id="attachment_719" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Steel Bending for Automotive Application Steel Bending for Automotive Application[/caption] [caption id="attachment_675" align="aligncenter" width="300"]steel bending for marine Steel Bending for Marine Application[/caption]
Induction Bending A Huge Success
We are happy to report that our induction heating process is a huge success! Albina has used heat to bend materials for decades, utilizing alternatives to the actual process of induction heating. We have built upon our vast knowledge base for hot increment bending and are now applying an induction heat source to our recently upgraded increment bending process. We have been operating with this process for several months now and it has been a very exciting step for Albina and for our loyal customers across the United States and Canada. Our new heating source and bending process has helped us expand the material range we can work with, radii that we can bend and it has allowed us meet the “induction only” heating requirements that certain projects specify. Call us today to learn more!
Curved Steel Spiral Staircase at Tommy Bahama Waikiki, HI.
Albina recently bent very large HSS (Hallow Structural Steel) rectangular tubing 16" X 4" X .500" WALL A500 GR B for an elliptical staircase at the Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar at The Shops at Mauna Lani in Waikiki, Hawaii. Upon extensive review of the plans submitted to Albina for production, it was determined that some radius changes were required. Many of the original radii required were actually deemed “too tight” to bend. Original plans called for bends that were as tight as a 3’-8” Centerline Radius. To remedy this problem, Albina was able to provide suggestions and recommendations regarding the radii that we were able to successfully bend while maintaining a high level of AESS (architecturally exposed structural steel) quality. This was a unique project because the stringers, as detailed, included numerous different radii. Many stringers are designed with a single radius or just a few radii. This staircase was originally designed with such complexity that it would have been fabricated from 38 individually bent members. Albina’s suggestion to decrease the actual number of parts and instead “blend” some parts together helped simplify the bending process, and reduced the total number of full-penetration weld splices that customer would need to perform during fabrication. After much discussion, the staircase was redesigned, resulting in only 24 individual members (a 37% decrease in the number of bent parts and full penetration weld joints). These changes resulted in a quicker lead-time and a labor cost savings. After receiving the elliptical bends from Albina, the customer commented, "Albina worked with us on time frames and cost issues. Albina must roll these pieces perfectly or we can’t even attempt to get a finish product on this end. We are counting on these things being correct…period. Albina is not afraid to take the risk of rolling a radius that hasn’t been done before. I appreciate the consistent and un-prodded reports on job status and progression.” [caption id="attachment_711" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Curved Steel Staircase Tommy Bahama Curved Steel Staircase Tommy Bahama[/caption] [caption id="attachment_712" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Curved Steel Staircase Tommy Bahama Curved Steel Staircase Tommy Bahama[/caption]
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