The Development and Inverse Kinematics of a 5 DOF Parallel Kinematic Architecture Machining System

Innovative solutions to South Africa's economic challenges are required in order provide a better future for the country. One area of challenge, lies in the manufacturing industry. Traditional machining centres are typically expensive, bulky and heavy. This paper presents the research and development of a novel architecture parallel kinematic machine (PKM) for machining purposes. Parallel architectures offer several promising advantages over the more traditional serial machines. The presented machine offers five degrees of freedom and is suitable for drilling and milling tasks. It has been designed to overcome the challenges of weight and cost of traditional machines. The development of the mechanical design is discussed as well as a study of the inverse kinematics of the machine.