ORIGINAL ARTICLE Functional simulator of 3-axis parallel kinematic milling machine Milos Glavonjic & Dragan Milutinovic & Sasa Zivanovic Received: 12 July 2007 / Accepted: 27 June 2008 / Published online: 24 July 2008 # Springer-Verlag London Limited 2008 Abstract Parallel kinematic machines (PKM) are research- and-development topic in many laboratories although many of them, unfortunately, have no PKM at all. Therefore, the use of low cost but functional simulator of a 3-Axis parallel kinematic milling machine is suggested as a help to acquire the basic experiences in the PKM field. The idea is based on the possibility that the simulator could be driven and controlled by a conventional 3-Axis Computer Numerical Control machine tool (CNC). The paper describes the development procedure of a simulator including the selec- tion of a corresponding parallel mechanism, kinematic modelling, and the programming algorithm. The functional simulator idea has been verified by successful making of some standardized test pieces of soft material, under full operational conditions. Keywords Parallel kinematic machines . Functional simulator . Modelling and testing 1 Introduction The strategic importance of education and training, espe- cially in technology and scientific subjects, is growing throughout the world. This also applies to the parallel kinematic machines (PKMs) which are today research-and- development (R&D) and educational worldwide topic. Basic knowledge about diverse aspects of PKM has been published [1]. Many different topologies of parallel mechanisms with 3 to 6 dof, including a 3-dof translational orthogonal parallel mechanism, have been used [1–5]. Today, unfortunately, the great majority of research insti- tutes, university laboratories, and companies have no PKM. The reason, obviously, is the high cost of education and training for a new technology, such as PKM. In order to contribute towards the acquisition of practical experiences in modelling, design, control, programming, and the use of PKM, a low cost but functional simulator of 3-Axis parallel kinematic milling machine is proposed [2]. The idea is based on the possibility that the simulator could be driven and controlled by a conventional 3-Axis CNC machine tool. As the axes of the conventional 3-Axis CNC machine are mutually orthogonal, different 3-dof spatial parallel mechanisms with orthogonal translatory joints may be used to build the simulator [2, 7]. The paper describes the procedure for simulator devel- opment including the selection of a corresponding parallel mechanism, kinematic modelling, and the programming algorithm. The idea about the functional simulator was verified by successful making of some standardized test pieces out of soft materials, made under full operational conditions. 2 Simulator’s concept It would be possible, thanks to the previous knowledge about serial kinematic machines and available resources for their programming, to make the simulator as a hybrid structure consisting of driving conventional 3-Axis CNC milling machine and driven 3-dof spatial parallel mecha- nism. One of the possible concepts of a functional simulator Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2009) 42:813–821 DOI 10.1007/s00170-008-1643-x M. Glavonjic (*) : D. Milutinovic : S. Zivanovic Mechanical Engineering Faculty, University of Belgrade, Kraljice Marije 16, 11120 Belgrade, Serbia e-mail: mglavonjic@mas.bg.ac.yu