The positioning system for an ultra precision machine tool must be accurate to the order of a nanometer. Various feed drive devices have been proposed to achieve this resolution; currently, most attention is directed towards hydrostatic lead screws and friction drives. It has been reported that a positioning resolution accurate to an angstrom can be achieved using a twist-roller friction drive. Therefore, we manufactured an ultra precision positioning system driven by a twist-roller friction drive and assessed its performance when defining problems and finding solutions. Our study showed that the twist-roller friction drive is mechanically suitable for ultra precision positioning, but some considerations are required to obtain a higher resolution.