Taking one of the belt-driven machine tools, horizontal milling machine, as the protagonist, the study constructs a virtual environment based on OpenGL and Microsoft Foundation Class without using any well-developed commercial VR software. Belt-driven mechanism was developed in the 1920s, at which time the motor was first invented and rather expensive. Because of difficult preservation and underlying hazards in mechanical antiques, resurgence of the horizontal milling machine in virtual reality is proposed and an exhibition room is permanently settled to memorize the history of mechanical engineering in the 1920s. Aside from the application of exhibition, this developed system also allows users to operate the machine tool in the same manner as in reality.
