Extruded Rubber Profiles for At Grade Railroad Crossings

Offering precision manufacturing of large profile extruded rubber parts, Ames Rubber Manufacturing provides assistance to a number of American and international companies in the transportation industry. Our work in railroad crossing extrusions has led to high volume production of the large and complex profiles highlighted here.

A US transportation customer required extruded rubber tub, field, and gage profiles for railroad crossings at automotive and pedestrian intersections. These protect and support rail crossings as well as provide non-conductive insulation for transmission lines. We also ensured that this material would not only comply with industry standards, but also withstand the necessary tensile and elongation conditions along the rail line. We formulated a black 75 Durometer Non Conductive EPDM for the project, which successfully adhered to railroad industry specifications.

Once material flow studies were confirmed and prototyping was complete, we used our 3.5″ cold feed extruder, 6″ hot feed extruder, and 17′ steam autoclave curing system for manufacturing. This was followed by several machining steps that required close tolerances and complex profiles with multi-spindle stepped drills and precision cut off saws. The parts ranged from 1.5″ wide by 2.625″ high to 7.5″ wide by 7.375″ high with specified radii and tapers.

This project showcases our capability to combine multiple manufacturing stages including mixing, extruding, curing, drilling, and cutting under high volume conditions. The initial project was a success and this customer increasingly orders these profiles, as well as additional large custom profiles, providing continuing solutions to their unique requirements. We have processed more than 100,000 lbs. of material per month of these profiles, with deliveries to various locations throughout the US and internationally. To learn more about our work with large extruded rubber profiles and high volume rubber extrusions, please contact us or refer to the table below.