  The subject of this paper is the design of a new concept of modular parallel
mechanisms for three, four or five-axis machining applications. Most parallel
mechanisms are designed for three- or six-axis machining applications. In the
last case, the position and the orientation of the tool are coupled and the
shape of the workspace is complex. The aim of this paper is to use a simple
parallel mechanism with two-degree-of-freedom (dof) for translation motions and
to add one or two legs to add one or two-dofs for rotation motions. The
kinematics and singular configurations are studied for each mechanism.
