need axis design idea

A question about how to built a device: I need one axis with at least 8 feet
of travel. The load is very light, just a target. It does not need to be
motorized, but some sort of position readout is required. Portable and
inexpensive are design goals. The accuracy of position readout isn't very
high, 0.005 to 0.010" would be OK.

This is almost like one axis of a router. What is good practice there?

Thanks for any ideas you feel willing to share.

regards-
Elliot


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