Linear motors for cnc router?

[stevewebster]

Has any body had any experience with Trilogy linear motors for a cnc router? They seem like they might be a good alternative to a ballscrew especially over long distances.

[harryn]

I have not used them before, but here is a link:

http://www.trilogysystems.com/

They look like a very professionally made, high precision servo system.

[Mike Everman]

For machine tool applications, typically iron-core style is used, as it has the lowest dollars-per-unit force. I wouldn't trust the iron cores from trilogy, but have used probably 500 trilogy air core motors.
Yes, it's neat, but for the forces you'd like, you're in for (probably) $800-1000 for a coil, and $40-60 per inch for magnet track. Spendy!
What's more, all the other mechanics need to be spot-on, high fidelity to take advantage of the linears. You want to be able to tune the servo loops really hot, which means you want preloaded bearings and stiff structure.

So unless you're made of money or find a smokin deal on ebay...it's far more involved and expensive than the obvious.