This is the index for a series of projects on building direct drive linear motors and projects I've used them in.
A linear motor is a motor that directly produces forces along a linear axis without the need for any form of mechanical transmission, such as gears, belts, or cables. The advantage of this is that any backlash, flexibility, or other inaccuracies in the linear motion can be eliminated. There are linear versions of different styles of electric motors (e.g. linear stepper motors or linear brushless motors). I decided to focus on linear brushless motor because they have the potential to be very accurate linear servos and the construction can be fairly simple depending on the specific design you use.