In this paper, an external magnetic driving method of a maglev ball based on force imbalance is first proposed to meet the requirement that the maglev ball is moved linearly in the axis direction of the electromagnetic actuator in the non-liquid environment. This method is expected to be better applied in the fields of industrial and medical miniature curved tube. The maglev ball is a magnetic levitated object. Based on the interpolation algorithm, the two-dimensional stepwise levitation motion trajectory of the maglev ball is designed as the target curve of the motion. The maglev ball can be driven with a large range along a specified motion path. Compared with the 1.0 mm step input, the overshoot of a 0.2 mm step input is decreased by 73.7% and 73.6% in the descending phase and the ascending phase, respectively. Therefore, fluctuation of the step response of the maglev ball is improved by smaller step control. However, the larger the step input, the faster the speed and the larger the levitation gap. Under the condition of a 1.0 mm step input, the maximum levitation gap can be up to 20.487 mm, and the speed of the maglev ball can reach 3.086 mm/s. Compared with static levitation control, the position of the maglev ball is fluctuated severely due to radial runout under motion control conditions, and the position accuracy can reach ±0.03 mm.