Most of the obvious ideas have been hashed though, a couple thoughts that may have fallen through the cracks... Garage door openers have been mentioned. Some are screw drive and would likely be difficult to extend, but a complete screw replacement may be possible. One of my suppliers is a company called Roton, they roll-form Acme screws every day and three meters would be nothing special to them. (over 10 meters the shipping becomes difficult, not the manufacture) So it's at least possible... (still doesn't make it a good idea :-) My garage door opener uses a timing belt. Open ended belting is available by the roll, so again length would be a non issue here. The sliding gate openers I have been around have a length of roller chain stretched from one end to the other of the moving portion. A stationary unit with a gearmotor has a matching sprocket and a couple idlers. A minute with google gave me this link http://www.wholesalegateopener.com/ALEKO-AC2200-Sliding-Gate-Opener-p/ac220= 0nor-wg.htm That may not be an exact fit for your application as it seems you'd have to stretch the chain on the stationary part and mount the unit to the moving portion. But it seems a relatively straightforward "hack". Might also add one or two more idler gears and run the chain "down and back" allowing you to stationary mount the power unit. Some older residential garage door openers also used chain, so I suspect you could adapt it to this type of mechanism as well, may be mode of a project than you're looking for. Both of these ideas have been used for "low cost" homebrew CNC machines, a quick google gives me http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y380/gene8522/IMG_4946.jpg (search for "blacktoe CNC" for more examples) I've recently been working through 3D printer stuff and there's an idea there you could adapt: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FcyQhXc1EFs/Uh0dE01_nPI/AAAAAAAADSw/9NRCK2yJGjI/s= 1600/3DR_2_Motor_spool_wound.jpg They're driving the printer parts with fishing line wrapped around a spool (and achieving sub-millimeter repeat-ability and accuracy) I suspect the idea could easily be scaled up to something with aircraft cable and multi-meter travel. Depends on finding a suitable motor to drive it... The "secret sauce" to this one is in how they build the cable spool and attach the cable to it. Rather than a capstan with "a couple wraps" (which will eventually slip, a little at least) The center of the cable is locked to the drum and does not move. Then enough cable is wound onto the drum to permit operation - (poor explanation, read through the pictures.) Given your speed requirements, I could see this as a stepper motor (larger, plus gears) giving you "move to X" ability. If you find that interesting, I can point you to some suitable drive electronics and motor options. -Denny --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .