Stainless Steel Cable Railing for Light Rail Train Stations

This photograph shows the cable railing fabricated by our welders and fabricators at Astro Engineering and Manufacturing installed at a transit station. 

In 2011 we were awarded the contract to fabricate the stainless steel railing for the stations of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit (CCLRT) system running between Minneapolis and St Paul.  For the past 2 years we’ve been field measuring, drafting, saw cutting, polishing, and welding thousands of feet of railing of which the last of it was recently installed.

Astro has been fabricating cable railings for years for both commercial and residential uses.  The posts and top rail can be made of a variety of metals.  Stainless steel, due to its corrosive resistance, is considered the top of the line product, requiring no coating for a great looking product for years and years.  Aluminum posts and rails are lower cost, but needs paint or anodizing to keep it looking in top shape. 

Astro Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc. is primarily sought-after for its stainless steel fabrication services. We are equipped with metal shears, CNC turret punch presses, CNC press brakes, and CNC laser cutting and machining. Astro is certified for its stainless steel TIG welding capabilities. As leading stainless steel fabricators, we customarily work with: architects, building contractors, food and beverage units, industrial machinery manufacturers, and more.

Here are the three key differentiators make Astro the preferred stainless steel fabricators across continental United States and beyond:

• Customized, responsive service: We are known for our outstanding customer support as we provide value engineering, custom solutions, superior workmanship, and on time delivery.  
• Technical acumen: The best tools and equipment become even better in the hands of our able and experienced technical team. We are customarily called on to build high-quality thermal augers for the food and bio-energy industries. These capabilities are accentuated with our leading-edge software capabilities.
• Comprehensive service capabilities: In addition to its proven expertise as stainless steel fabricators, Astro provides a wide range of services such as contract manufacturing, laser cutting, certified welding, engineering and design, and more.

We encourage you to visit our website www.astroeng.com to learn more about our full array of services. We are an all-American firm that provides fabrication and engineering services at highly competitive prices.

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Stainless Steel Fabrication – An Astro Specialty Since 1987

Astro Engineering was actually founded with stainless steel fabrication when we first opened our doors in 1987. That’s more than two decades which gives us a depth of experience that few have. Over that time we’ve been able to develop and refine both the processes and the tools we use in metal fabrication for everything from punched and formed stainless conveyor belting to stainless spiral chutes to stainless stair rails.

Our products are used in industry where ease of maintenance and longevity are paramount. For instance, we have an excellent reputation in the food industry for outstanding stainless steel fabrication. We build many custom items like screw conveyors and chutes fabricated from stainless steel which we design for easy cleaning in order to meet safety regulations while maintaining profitability.

Excellent quality control
The kind of metal fabrication we offer requires the attention to detail and experience that Astro provides. Our quality control includes regular inspection of both our equipment and our products. We make good use of print reviews and pre-fab conferences and make quality control an integral part of our training. All this and more assures buyers that our stainless steel fabricators consistently meets and even exceeds our customer’s requirements.

We also make sure we have exactly the right equipment we need to be sure we can create the kind of stainless metal fabrication our customers need. For example, we are experts with SolidWorks™ 3-D design. We understand cutting precisely with laser and our certified welding means we meet high standards when we fabricate stainless steel equipment and parts. We are also experts and machining and forming to order.

Known for our understanding of the materials involved and our creativity, we can take your idea – even if it’s only roughly sketched out – and turn it into exactly the product you need and want. We are also excellent at problem solving. If you’ve got metal conveyors or other items that aren’t working exactly the way you want it, let us show you how we can use our experience and imagination to make the needed changes. With more than 20 years of precision sheet metal fabrication you can be certain we know what we’re doing and that you’ll benefit from our experience.

More than stainless steel
Of course, we’re not limited to stainless steel for our metal fabrication. Our projects include metal light covers, elevator panels, copper wall trim, powder-coated steel store fixtures, and much more. We also work with aluminum products like sun shades and canopies. We bring the same high standards to our sheet metal fabrication as we do to our stainless products.

We are certified to work with metal fabrication in many government categories including DBE, WBE, SBA certified SBD, TGB, CERT. We’re familiar with government processes and have a reputation for completing projects on time and on budget.

At Astro Engineering we make metal perform.

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Sheet Metal Fabrication for Electronic Enclosures

As the electronics industry continues to proliferate, there is a corresponding demand for individual components such as electronic enclosures. Engineering firms and electronic assemblers looking for high-grade custom enclosures have benefitted from the services of Astro Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc.

Though these firms have access to cheaper alternatives that are manufactured offshore, they continue to partner with Astro simply because our custom products are intelligently engineered and high on the durability factor. This has been achieved through Astro’s expertise in sheet metal fabrication techniques. We manufacture electronic enclosures to hold each and every tolerance to customer specifications.

We employ advanced machinery to carry out stainless steel fabrication processes such as CNC punching, laser cutting and forming to rapidly fabricate steel, stainless steel, or aluminum enclosures.

If you are an engineering firm or electronic assembler, here’s what you can expect from our sheet metal fabrication services:

• Our services are most compatible with companies that need a very specific enclosure in lot sizes of 20 to 1000.
• We can rapidly make a prototype before initiating a new production run. Once we complete the first production run, we can offer repeated runs for your custom electronic enclosures.
• Our rich experience and knowledge of bend allowance is a strength for us. This lends a proper fit and neat finish to each enclosure.
• In addition to metal fabrication services, we can also provide you with painting or silk screening services through our well-established partner network.

To contact us for a quick quote on our sheet metal fabrication services, please visit the Astro Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc. website www.astroeng.com.

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Thermal Augers

Thermal augers are especially important to the food industry and the bio-energy pioneers.  They are most often built with stainless steel fabricators, but sometimes carbon steel. The purpose of thermal auger to bring the material moved by the auger to a desired temperature. Thermal auger systems can be made to eitherheat or chill the product going through it. Food processors often like to keep their ingredients to a semi- frozen state, so a chilled conveying system is found most beneficial, however cheese manufacturers find a heated auger useful for moving and compressing cheese as it’s made.

Those companies involved in the production of bio-energy are looking to us to help on both their heating and cooling needs. At this time, Astro is able to provide augers that can attain temperatures between 32 and 500 degrees F.  and a diameter range of 6” to 24”.  We can also provide variable pitches, a variety of jackets and other components of a screw conveyor system.    

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Astro – Your Reliable Food Processing Equipment Specialist

The demand for genuine food processing equipment is growing each passing day, with stringent laws being made for processed food quality. Indeed, the type and quality of this equipment go a long way to enhance the health quotient of food by ensuring hygienic measures.

As a top notch metal fabrication service provider, we at Astro Engineering take great care to adhere to all the rules for quality. Even the minutest of detail is considered here to offer you precision results. Our skilled and factory trained engineers and fabricators are our asset that constantly strive to provide the best in technology and service. We even have provision for offering you customized solutions as per the specifications of our individual clients. We have excellent track record of catering to our customers in various fields of food manufacturing and processing.

Food Processing Equipment Available With Us

At Astro Engineering, you would find a great stockpile of food processing equipment varieties that are used in various units. Some of them include:

• Food conveyor belts
• Cheese cutters
• Vibratory conveyors
• Stainless-steel spiral let-down chutes
• Custom sinks
• Stainless-steel augers

The best part about ordering from Astro Engineering is that you can get customized products from experts that have 20 years of experience in this industry. To offer you the best as per your specifications, we have a trained customer service team that is on its toes 24X7 to take care of your apprehensions and queries.

How Can We Guarantee Quality?

Maintaining high standards of quality has made us to successful as a leader in metal fabrication industry. The reason behind our burgeoning list of clientele is our high quality products that use the right materials and design techniques. As an authentic stainless steel fabricator, we are equipped with the up-to-date techniques and tools required for manufacturing food processing equipment that includes 12-foot metal shear, CNC turret punch presses, CNC press brakes, and state of art machining center. We also have trained welding experts who are equipped to handle all your requirements. Come to us and you would go back happy!

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