Blog

Important message for steel fabricators, architects, engineers and project managers involved with projects requiring curved steel applications..."Using a third-party bending firm, and getting them involved early on in the design phase, allows you to take on bigger projects and offer more options to your customers." 

If you bring a third party bender into partnership with you, do it as early into the project as possible.  When designs are challenging, it is best to have your bending firm examine the bending design ahead of time so that they can identify potential issues and determine whether or not the desired outcome can be achieved.  All parties involved must agree on all of the critical elements of the project before a single piece of steel is bent.  Early involvement eliminates potential mistakes or misunderstandings later in the process, which could potentially result in scheduling delays or added cost for re-work.

Albina Pipe Bending Co., Inc. wrote a case study on Early Involvement and their experiences with working with Columbia Wire & Iron on the bending and fabrication of a spiral staircase and landing at the Allison Inn in Newberg Oregon.  See pages 26-28 in the January/February 2012 Issue of Fabricator http://issuu.com/fabricator/docs/jan_2012_fabricator for more information and details.

Albina Pipe Bending has joined the world of social media to stay better connected with our customers and to ensure that we are providing up-to-date, real-time information about all of the exciting projects and developments in the world of bent steel and rolled metal!

Like Us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/albinapipe

Follow Us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/albinapipe

Log on and check out Albina Pipe Bending Co., Inc.'s new website . We have created a website that provides you with all of the tools and reference material you could ever need to help you with all of your bending needs and questions.

Here are a few reasons you should mark Albina as a favorite!

Our Tech Tool Box feature was created especially for you-our customer! Here you can use our custom designed Bending Calculators to help you with all of your bending calculations, reference our Bending Tolerances, and look up our Tangent Material requirements. COMING SOON- A Spiral Math Calculator to help you with all of your spiral math calculations to create state-of-the-art spiral members .

Check out our modernized Capacities Chart complete with 2D, 3D, photographs and current capacities and capabilities for all of your Structural Bending in addition to Specialty Bending and Plate Rolling needs.

Get all the answers and arguments you could ever need for why architects, designers and engineers should choose curved steel over other architectural building materials and why Albina is the right bender for you in our Why Curved Steel? section.


Tons of other features including:

• The ability to Request a Quote and Attach Drawings

• Extensive Photo Gallery and Video Library

• Bending/Rolling reference material and info broken down by material type, shape and size.

• Product/Applications area highlighting specific product applications over various industries.

• Reference Materials including brochures, technical articles, information on detailing, etc.

We would love to partner with you on your next bending project, please give us a call or email if we can be of assistance! We hope that you find our new site resourceful, effective and easy to use.

Albina has created four new calculators that can be used by general contractors, engineers, architects, students, fabricators, and artists to help end users quickly and easily generate solutions to some complicated formulas used when working with bent steel. Have you ever wondered, “How much material do I need when bending to a specific Degree and Radius?” You can now calculate your content of a bend (i.e. Arc) by plugging in your Radius and Degree of Bend...it is that simple. Have you ever wondered, “How do I figure out a Radius of a bend?” This is a common question that bending companies are frequently faced with. You can now calculate your Radius with 2 different calculators. You just need to know your Chord Length and your Rise or an Arc Length and Degree of Bend. With either set of data you can easily generate your desired Radius. Other calculators are available as well to calculate your Degree of Bend or your Rise. Albina knows that many of you can “run the numbers” and come up with the solutions on your own, but we wanted to provide a forum to allow for the calculations to happen in one location AND allow you to spend more time on your job and less time on running calculations. This "Calculators Link" on our web site is just one of the services that you should expect from your bender / roller. It should make everyone’s lives easier that are involved in your bending project and should certainly improve the ease in which information is derived. In addition to the calculations, we have included a graph that shows the different components of a curve. This may help answer any questions you might have regarding what the components are. For additional information and a more in-depth description of terms used in these calculators, please refer to our Glossary of Terms.

Albina Pipe Bending teamed up with the 2009 Baja SAE Team from Oregon State University's College of Engineering to build a winning vehicle. The Baja SAE Team consists of students with disciplines in mechanical and industrial engineering, as well as business, who work together to design an "off-road" vehicle that competes in several dynamic events against other local and national teams.

Albina Pipe Bending donated several 1" OD x .065" wall for the front bracing and rear roll hoop of the vehicle.

In the local competition, the Baja SAE Team placed in the top five for all dynamic events and placed 1st in endurance out of 80 teams. They went on to compete in a national event in Wisconsin and finished in 1st place overall out of 100 teams.

Albina donates bent material to the Baja SAE Team and the College of Engineering at Oregon State University on an annual basis to help the students learn how to work in a team environment that replicates industry applications.

Albina Pipe Bending is hosting a STEEL DAY 2009 Event Date: September 18, 2009 Time: 9 a.m. Event Type: Facility Tour-All Guests must be pre-registered Location: 12080 SW Myslony Street Tualatin, OR 97062 Of Interest to: Architects, Engineers, Contractors & Students Curved Steel doesn't just happen. Precision instruments and expert benders are responsible for these increasingly popular architechtural and structural elements. Attendees will learn about the various methods of bending and rolling steel shapes and develop a thorough understanding of how Albina Pipe Bending Co., Inc. fits into the structural steel supply chain. Common terms and nuances of the processess will be explained and examples provided leaving the participants with the tools to be able to specify bent steel for their projects with more confidence. All necessary safety gear will be provided, although guests are asked to bring their own safety glasses if they have them. Hard hats are not required. Attire is casual and closed toe shoes are required. Coffee and donuts will be served at this event. To register for this event: www.SteelDay.org To request more details about this event, e-mail: moor@aisc.org or holik@aisc.org. or Contact Albina Directly Toll-Free (866) 252-4628.

Seventy years have passed since three co-workers had a dream and started a pipe bending company. They had very little, but a strong desire when they started that business in an old blacksmith shop at 225 N. Russell. Their dream grew through hard work and a determination to grow. Albina’s original owners hired two employees, one being John Smith. As a first order of business, John Smith along with the original owners, built Albina’s first bending machine utilizing the transmission and parts from a Model-T Ford. This machine still works to this day, and is in storage at Albina’s current location. At a later date, John Smith was able to purchase the business from its last living entrepreneur. In January of 1967, John’s son, Bill Smith, purchased the company located then at 7805 NE Halsey. Under Bill’s leadership, Albina proved to be capable of supplying unique, quality products to a wide range of industries including structural steel fabricators, public works contractors, pulp and paper mills, truck manufacturers, architectural designers, sculptors, shipbuilders and many others. Albina’s product line grew to include heat exchangers, coils, boiler tubes, chip lines, formed structural supports and framing, institutional barriers and fencing, art work and sculpture, playground equipment, medical and dental equipment. Over the years, Albina has proved they could produce virtually any other metal component that needs to bend or curve without the use of pre-formed fittings. Bill’s son, Brian Smith, came on board in 1998 and was instrumental in the decision to move to the current 50,000 sq. ft. building in Tualatin, Oregon that was custom built in 2001. Brian currently controls all day-to-day operations and holds the title of CFO and General Manager. Albina’s growth is the result of the American dream, solid ideas and hard work. We thank all that have been involved with this growth and we look forward to providing our customers with many more years of the quality customer service and products associated with the Albina name.

Albina Pipe Bending Co., Inc. played an instrumental roll in creating the unique roof structure of the 400-meter speedskating oval located in Richmond, B.C. The oval is the home of the speedskating events for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Albina rolled 36 lengths of tube steel (12" x 12" x .375" wall thickness and 54 feet long) to a 101 foot inside radius. In total, 113,000 pounds of material was rolled to create the structural steel supports for teh concrete-roofed dome.

The concept of putting 400-metre speed-skating tracks indoors is relatively new. Until the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Olympic competitions were held outdoors. Calgary's organizers convinced the International Skating Union to put its track inside a concrete-roofed room. In doing so, they created a facility that moderated ice conditions.

To read more about the unique architecture of the Richmond Speed Skating Oval, please read the following article titled "Richmond's iconic oval breaks all moulds"Canada.com - Jan 2009