In this paper, an identification method for industrial robots is described that does not require the a priori identification of the friction model. First, the necessity for such a method is motivated by an overview on conventional friction modelling and rigid body identification. It is shown that the time variance of typical friction characteristics lead to systematic identification errors. They are avoided by the presented method, which is based on separating the base parameters into three different groups. Each group is identified by simple measurements and a weighted least-squares method. Measurements are carried out with simple motions in the neighbourhood of a number of especially selected joint configurations. Further advantages of this method are its easy implementation for standard robot controls and the possibility to find modelling errors. The experimental implementation of this method to a typical industrial robot with six rotational joints is carried out and yields remarkable results.