6DOF Motion Platform Manufacturer
Motion Platforms & Simulators, Custom-Engineered and Built In-House
Electric 3DOF, 6DOF and Stewart platforms. We machine the servo cylinders and write the controller firmware in the same plant that assembles the machine, which is why the numbers on this site have test conditions attached to them.
First reply: a completeness check and a gap list, typically within one business day — not a price pulled out of the air.
CSCmotion — all-electric motion platform manufacturer. 20,000 m² Nanjing production base building servo cylinders, controllers and complete motion systems under one roof.
15+ yrs
Motion-control engineering
215
Delivered configurations across 15 platform lines
20 kg – 35 t
Gross moving load range, 2DOF to 6DOF
<10 ms
Closed-loop control cycle
The word "custom" does a lot of work
Most custom motion platforms are a catalogue frame with a different top plate.
That is usually enough. When it is not, the reason is almost always the same: the load is heavier or taller than the frame was sized for, the stroke has to change, or the host system speaks a protocol the controller was never asked to speak.
Those three things sit in the actuator, the structure and the firmware. A supplier who buys all three cannot change any of them — so the conversation turns into which standard model is closest, and the gap becomes your problem at commissioning.
We machine the Servo electric cylinder, fabricate the structure, build the cabinets and write the controller firmware in Nanjing. When your load case falls outside a released configuration, we change the hardware rather than look for a part that almost fits.
We change the machine, not the specification.
Not sure whether your requirement needs a custom build? See what actually changes on a custom platform →
Platform families
Four platform families, selected by what has to move
Start from the mass, the centre-of-gravity height and the axes the task actually needs. The architecture follows from those; it is not the place to start.
Six controlled axes
Surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw from six coordinated actuator legs. The default when the task needs full pose control or when translation and rotation have to be commanded together.
Architecture 6DOF parallel
Actuation servo electric cylinder
Joints Cardan, torsion-determinate
Three controlled axes
Heave, roll and pitch. Right when three defined axes reproduce the motion your application needs — and cheaper to run, though not proportionally cheaper to buy.
Reference axes heave / roll / pitch
Yaw on request, project-specific
Upgrade path reviewed case by case
Parallel kinematics
Twelve attachment coordinates, six limbs, one moving frame. Used where stiffness and pose accuracy matter more than travel — alignment, docking and controlled positioning.
Topologies 3-3 / 6-3 / 6-6
Identification 42 geometric parameters
Verification laser measurement
Platform-side control
Controller, servo drives, cabinet, kinematics and the host interface, defined as one work package. Available with a platform, or as an OEM subsystem under review.
Host TCP / UDP · serial / Modbus
Drives EtherCAT · CANopen
Boards designed and built in-house
Have the mass and the motion, not the model? Work through the selection sequence →
Before you choose a model, choose a supplier type
Buying the platform, or buying the machine: The Maker-or-Middleman Decision
Three kinds of company quote this equipment, and they fail in three different places. The row that matters is the one describing what is currently blocking your project.
| Decision line | Catalogue vendor | System integrator | CSCmotion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who makes the actuator | Bought in | Bought in | Machined here — stroke, rod diameter and mounting are design variables |
| Who writes the control firmware | Licensed or OEM | Third-party controller | Written here, which is why we can change command level and coordinate convention |
| Non-standard payload, CG or inertia | Nearest model, gap is yours | Re-quoted upward | Sized from your moving assembly before anything is released |
| Host interface | Fixed protocol list | Owned by the integrator | Message content, units, timing and fault behaviour agreed before manufacturing |
| Where the performance number comes from | Datasheet maximum, load unstated | Passed through from the OEM | Measured on the built platform at the acceptance load, recorded in the report |
| Acceptance | Delivery note | Site commissioning | Factory acceptance test, witnessed in person or by live video |
| Who answers a defect in year three | Distributor chain | Whoever is still under contract | The plant that machined the part |
| Lead time driver | Stock position | Sub-supplier queue | Our own machining and assembly schedule |
| When we are the wrong choice | — | — | A released configuration already fits and the schedule is tight — we will say so |
Lowest quotation ≠ lowest installed cost. Two quotations for “the same platform” are rarely comparable until the load case, the acceptance method and the interface scope are written down.
Comparing us against another quotation? Take the seven supplier questions and use them on us →
The three numbers every enquiry opens with
Payload, stroke and acceleration are not three independent numbers
Fix any two and the third follows from the machine you are prepared to buy. The actuators do not hold the mass; they control it through a lever equal to the centre-of-gravity height, so doubling that height roughly doubles the moment at the same acceleration.
Have mass and CG but not the rest? Build the specification block →
From bar stock to factory acceptance
Where a motion platform is actually won or lost
Eight stations, in order. Only one of them decides whether a correct calculation becomes an accurate machine.
ST 01
Servo electric cylinder machining
Servo electric cylinder bodies, rods and end fittings cut to the project stroke. Screw drive and motor matched to the force and duty.
ST 02
Structure fabrication
Base and moving frame built to the released geometry, with the mounting pattern and load path taken from your assembly.
ST 03
Cabinet & controller build
Drives, protection and field I/O wired to the schematic. Controller boards designed and populated in-house.
ST 04
Joint assembly & preload
Cardan joints fitted and preloaded at each end of every limb, so each limb resists torsion about its own axis.
ST 05
Parameter identification
The as-built geometry is measured and the difference from design values is compensated inside the controller.
ST 06
Laser measurement
Pose measured by an external instrument rather than inferred from encoders. Commanded, calculated and measured are three different claims.
ST 07
Loaded running
Run with a test load standing in for the real payload — envelope, cycle time, thermal behaviour and safety functions.
ST 08
Factory acceptance
The agreed protocol, run against the contracted specification, with deviations recorded rather than smoothed over.
A 6DOF motion platform has 42 geometric parameters to identify — three coordinates for each base attachment point, three for each platform attachment point, and the zero length of each limb. Every one of them is off by a small amount after assembly, because parts are made to tolerances rather than to nominal values.
Skip this step and the controller solves the kinematics correctly for a machine that does not exist. The pose it reports will be internally consistent and wrong, and no amount of servo tuning recovers it, because the error is in the model rather than in the loop. That is why identification runs before the acceptance test and not after a complaint.
What the platform is asked to do
Five jobs, one engineering question underneath
Whatever the industry calls it, the platform is either reproducing a motion, creating an experimental input, or rejecting a disturbance. Which one it is decides the axes, the bandwidth and the acceptance method.
Reproduce a motion
Vibration, durability and qualification work where the input motion is defined by a standard or by measured field data, and the platform has to reproduce it against a specification.
Create an input
Repeatable, instrumented motion for an experiment, where what matters is that the same input can be applied again next month and produce the same record.
Cue an operator
Flight, driving and vessel training devices where onset cues matter more than travel. We supply the platform subsystem; the cockpit, visuals and courseware stay with the integrator.
Reject a disturbance
Platforms that hold a payload still while the base moves. Scoped case by case, because the achievable residual depends on the base-motion spectrum you can supply.
Building the platform into a product of your own? See the OEM supply scope →
Delivered work
6DOF motion platform for Flight simulator
A helicopter cabin training platform carrying a 1,400 kg cabin with six crew on board, running six hours a day, five days a week.
The yaw requirement was wider than a hexagon of that size could reach, so a seventh axis was mounted in series above the six-axis base rather than stretching the parallel geometry to cover it. The ceiling height at the customer’s site was 4.5 m, which set the neutral height before any actuator was selected.
That is the shape most of our records take: a constraint that governed the design, the decision taken because of it, and what was measured at acceptance. Where a customer allows the name to be published, it is published; most of our delivered base sits with customers we are not free to name, so those records carry the parameters without the logo.
Want to see whether we have built something close to yours? Open the delivered project library →
A six-degree-of-freedom motion platform is applied to a helicopter simulator for daily training.
Scope, stated before the quotation
What we build, and where our work stops
Most disputes on this equipment come from an item nobody costed — a mounting adapter, a coordinate convention, a safety handshake. The boundary goes in the proposal, so the price you get is the price you pay.
Inside a platform supply
- Platform mechanism and the contracted top interface
- Electric actuation, drives and feedback
- Platform controller and electrical cabinet
- Platform-side commands, status and safety I/O
- Configuration-specific drawings and manuals
- Platform-level factory acceptance test and records
Normally yours or your integrator's
- Complete cockpit, cabin or simulator assembly
- Visual systems, avionics, courseware and host application
- Your payload, fixture design and test instrumentation
- Building structure, foundations, permits and site-wide safety
- Complete-system certification and operational approval
Management systems and standards
- ISO 9001 — quality management system
- ISO 14001 — environmental management
- ISO 45001 — occupational health and safety
- GJB 9001C-2017 — defence quality system
- CE marking, where the product scope applies
- Members of the EtherCAT Technology Group and CAN in Automation, with CANopen conformance testing
A management-system certificate covers the system, not any single platform’s performance. Certificate numbers are issued per audit cycle and change, so ask for the current PDF for your project file rather than reading the logo. If your programme needs an approval we do not hold, we will say so at the enquiry rather than at acceptance.
How a project runs
From an incomplete brief to an accepted platform
You do not need a finished specification to start. The first thing we return is a completeness review and a list of what is missing or contradictory — that is usually worth more than a number at this stage.
01
Requirement review
We read the load, motion, installation, host and acceptance information and list the gaps before doing any engineering.
02
Feasibility
The combined trajectory is checked through the real geometry and mass model. If it does not close, you hear it here.
03
Boundary & interface freeze
Scope, coordinate convention, message content, units, timing and safety responsibilities written down and signed.
04
Engineering & build
Released drawings, machining, assembly, cabinet build and firmware configuration. Changes only by written change notice.
05
FAT & handover
Acceptance under a stated test load, then drawings, manuals, spare parts list and the test record ship with the platform.
What to send so the first reply is useful
- Total moving mass, including fixture and cabling
- Centre-of-gravity height above the mounting plane, and inertia or CAD mass properties
- Required axes, travel and angles, with the reference point
- One representative motion profile, or the standard you are working to
- Installation envelope, ceiling height and access route
- Site power supply and operating environment
- Host system, command mode and who owns the safety chain
- Acceptance method and target date
Blanks are fine and more useful than guesses. Missing items come back in the gap list.
What comes back
A completeness review and a gap list, typically within one business day. Where the requirement is already clear, a scoped proposal that separates included equipment, optional items and customer-supplied scope, so it can be compared line by line against another quotation.
Every platform carries a twelve-month warranty, and factory acceptance can be witnessed in person or by live video before shipment. That is a normal arrangement on this equipment, not a concession.
Asked before anyone talks about working together
Motion platform FAQ
Do you actually manufacture, or do you broker the build?
We manufacture. The servo cylinders are machined here, the structure is fabricated here, the controller boards are designed and built here, and the firmware is written here, in a 20,000 m² plant in Nanjing. That is also the reason we can change stroke, geometry or command level on a project — those parts are ours to change rather than someone else's to quote.
What payload can a CSCmotion platform carry?
Gross moving load from 20 kg to 35 t across 2DOF to 6DOF configurations. Gross moving load means everything above the mounting plane — your equipment, the fixture, the adapter and the cabling — not the mass on the drawing. Two assemblies of the same mass do not place the same demand on the machine, so we confirm the rating against your centre-of-gravity height and inertia before quoting.
Why is one quotation so much cheaper than another for the same platform?
Usually because they are not the same platform. The common differences are the load the performance was measured at, whether the acceptance test is included and witnessed, whether the mounting adapter and cabinet are in scope, and whether the host interface is a named protocol or an agreed message set. Ask all three suppliers to state the acceptance load next to the acceleration figure — the quotations often stop looking similar at that point.
How accurate are your platforms, and how is that measured?
Repeatability of 0.02 mm is typical, measured by laser tracker on the assembled platform rather than inferred from encoder feedback. That distinction matters: a commanded pose, a pose calculated from a mechanism model, and a pose measured by an external instrument are three different claims, and only the third is independent of the model's assumptions. The figure that applies to your build is issued in the project datasheet with its measurement conditions.
Is 6DOF always better than 3DOF?
No. More axes do not automatically produce a better system. The question is whether the three axes you would drop — surge, sway and yaw — carry information your task depends on. If they do, no amount of tuning on the remaining three recovers it. If they do not, a right-sized 3DOF platform will do the work with less installed power and fewer things to maintain. We would rather scope that correctly at the enquiry than sell an axis count.
Do you supply complete simulators?
No. We supply the engineered motion platform subsystem, the agreed control equipment and the platform-side interface. Cockpits, cabins, visual systems, avionics, courseware and the host application stay with you or your integrator. Complete-system certification and operational approval also sit outside our scope — the platform holds its contracted motion and acceptance criteria, and the device-level approval remains with the party that owns the whole machine.
Can we witness the acceptance test?
Yes, in person at the plant or by live video. It is the strongest evidence available on this equipment and it is a normal arrangement rather than a special concession. Third-party witnessing is also accepted. The protocol can be sent in blank before the order so your team can review what will be measured and against which conditions.
Are there projects you turn down?
Yes. If a released configuration already meets the requirement and the schedule is tight, a catalogue platform will usually beat us on price and lead time, and we will say so in the first technical reply. We also decline work that needs an approval we do not hold rather than describing our management-system certificates as if they covered it. Turning down the wrong project is how a custom builder earns the second one.
Fifty-five more, from enquiry to support ten years later: Open the full FAQ →
Send the load and the motion. We will tell you what is missing.
Mass, centre-of-gravity height, the axes you need and one representative motion profile are enough to start. If your requirement fits a released configuration, we will tell you that too.