When a lab instrument, medical device, semiconductor tool, or aerospace and defense system needs to land within microns, the problem almost never starts in the electronics. It starts underneath — in the bearing, the lead screw, or the carriage stiffness. That’s the layer PBC Linear has spent more than 40 years refining, and it’s usually faster to solve with a conversation than a spec sheet.
Tell us what you’re building and what it needs — precision, envelope, load, duty cycle — and we’ll tell you what’s possible before you’ve locked anything in. Most of what’s on this page started as a standard configuration and was adapted into something custom.
Who We Are
PBC Linear supplies precision linear actuators across the full mechatronics spectrum: mechanical-only actuators for a customer-supplied drive, motor-ready actuators with a NEMA stepper or servo pre-mounted, and integrated linear actuators — electromechanical actuators with onboard drive electronics and networking (EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT, Modbus, CANopen) built directly into the housing. Most of it gets adapted into something custom in-house at our 200,000-sq-ft headquarters in Roscoe, Illinois, with prototypes that typically ship in days or weeks, not months.
Common Applications:
- Lab automation
- Medical devices
- Electronics assembly and test
- Semiconductor equipment
- Aerospace and defense instrumentation (including drones)
Explore Individual Linear Solutions
Browse the full range, mechanical components on up through fully integrated smart actuators.
Not Sure Which Series Fits?
Skip the spec-hunting. Book a meeting directly with a mechatronics expert. Describe the application and we’ll point you to the right starting series.
Not ready for a meeting? tell us about your application and one of our engineers will get back to you
Precision Mechatronics Case Studies
Benchtop DNA sample preparation instrument maker · Custom two-axis Compact Series
Compact multi-axis solutions for benchtop life science instruments
A maker of benchtop DNA sample preparation instruments needed to position an ultrasonic source above a sample for DNA shearing — a two-axis problem the customer initially expected to solve with two separate actuators. PBC Linear delivered a custom two-axis Compact Series assembly as a single part number, removing one integration step from the customer’s build.
The relationship has grown from a single instrument platform to a second, with a third in early discussions. PBC Linear often sees this pattern in life sciences, where engineering around customer constraints turns one-axis specifications into multi-program partnerships.
Document scanning and sorting OEM · UG Series SIMO with FrelonGOLD and Constant Force
Maintenance-free actuation in high-speed document scanning
A leading document scanning and sorting OEM specified PBC Linear UG Series SIMO actuators with FrelonGOLD self-lubricating bearings and Constant Force lead screws for the vertical axis of its out-sorting stations. In head-to-head customer testing against a competing dry-running actuator, the PBC Linear unit surpassed 1.6 million cycles and outperformed on running clearance and vibration damping — critical both in the paper-dust environment the customer designs for and to support the customer’s 10-plus-year service life target.
The platform has since expanded from traditional bank and insurance document workflows into voting machines and AI training data ingestion.
Talk to a Linear Motion Expert
Most of what we build starts as a standard series and ends up custom to your instrument. The fastest way to find out what’s possible is to ask. Configure your actuator online, or get a PBC Linear engineer into your design before you’ve locked anything in.