The application of industrial robots for machining is currently limited to tasks with low precision demands due to the low stiffness of industrial robots as compared to machine tools. This paper analytically describes an experiment-based compliance identification and analysis method for a 5- axis vertical articulated machining robot. An expansion of the conventional method for the calculation of the robot’s Cartesian space compliance that takes into consideration joint compliances and the Jacobian matrix is used. The analytical analysis considers the effects of the individual joint compliances on the resulting Cartesian space compliance. Experimentally, the Cartesian space compliance is obtained by direct measurement of the absolute displacements induced by static forces along 3-Cartesian directions at the tool tip from which the joint compliances are identified.