Patent ID: 7523535

Claim:
A railcar bolster side bearing mounting pad milling machine, comprising: a frame; a pair of milling heads and associated cutters suspended from an overhead frame member; a sliding saddle unit moveable into and out of a work envelope beneath said cutters; a pair of fixturing assemblies for locating a bolster substantially in its normal operating orientation, said fixturing assemblies secured to said sliding saddle unit at substantially opposite ends thereof so as to receive therein opposing arm portions of a bolster while forming an open space therebetween to provide clearance for a downwardly extending central portion of said bolster, each fixturing assembly having a fixed position bolster support means for locating the position of said bolster in three dimensions; and each bolster support means including a plurality of bolster locating elements extending upward from a support base portion of the respective bolster support means to support fixtured bolsters from a repeatable location along a bottom surface thereof; wherein a pair of side bearing mounting pads present on a fixtured bolster are automatically aligned with and exposed to said cutters for machining as said sliding saddle unit is moved through said work envelope.