Type A 3d printers as an upgrade path for the ToM

Found an interesting upgrade path from my Thing-O-Matic to a Type A 3d printer.
I planned to sell by ToM and get an Ultimaker. But now the quote from Jetguy made me think about it's bowden concept:
"I've had the vision of creating a fast bot. I've gone the bowden route
in a real Ultimaker frame. The results were less than stellar and
there is a reason why I've abandoned it. It frequently jams or chews
the filament. It is was very dificult to tune any kind of anti-ooze or
stringing and never met my expectations."
While of cause the major plus for a bowden design is the limited mass to be moved and thus the speeds and mechanical stress.

Here is the quote from Jetguy about a possible upgrade path for me:
"
And, as far as bots go, If I had a T-O-M and was shopping for upgrades, you could get someone to cut this frame in plywood for less than $100 (1 sheet of 1/4 inch plywood), then you only need about $100 in parts (8 each LM8UUs 8*$1.75, a smooth rod kit for a mendel $30, 2 5.5kg.cm torque motors 2*$20, 2 608 skate bearings, the Cupcake Y belt, 3 Cupcake Z belts, the 5 36t Gt2 *mm bore pulleys, and finally, a Reprap heated bed. I also used a 360watt 12 volt supply but you could use a PC supply mounted on the back. I call this  the ultimate T- O-M upgrade. ...
No need to spend thousands on a new bot, upgrade what you have into a new frame. There were lots of good things about the T-O-M, but now with Sailfish, you can take advantage of a larger build area and different frame for peenies on the dollar compared to buying a new machine.

I'll post every single edited DXF and part up on Thingiverse soon.
I basically gave the BOM above. If I had a T-O-M, this is going to be
a stellar upgrade for those willing to take the leap!!!!
"

Let's see...

1. Cut the plywood myself on my CNC
2. I already have LM8UUs and 608 skateboard bearings en masse
3. I already have a Reprap heated bed (I wanted to use it on my Repman)
4. get two heavy NEMA17 stepper motors
5. add *good* smooth rods (consistent diameter, straight)
6. add a Cupcake Y belt and 3 Z belts (where to source them?)
7. add 5 pulleys (source?)
8. a >=360W PC power supply should be easy.
9. finally: do my own Reprap-sized ABP design with leveling and tightening adjustment bolts.

Contra:

• Staying on the Thing-O-Matic and just designing a better ABP is less work
• Less that can go wrong.

Pro:

• The larger build volume is intriguing.
• I already have many of the parts
• Extruder, Hotend, Firmware and host-software won't be touched.
• When designing my own ABP anyway, I can build a Reprap sized heated titanium conveyor belt.
• Update: I found collapsible Type A!!! (The space in the upper part could be designed to hole a spool of PLA when collapsed.)

Sounds possible.

Thinking about it....I think I can design a modified Type A case where

• In the Z=max position, the Z-spindle and smooth Z rods can be collapsed into the horizontal plane.
• The 4 edges can be collapsed down
• The build-surface has a hole for the extruder in the back-left corner
• So in the end everything can be collapsed to be as high as the height below the build surface plus the height of the Y-stage.

• My Google+ posting
• Mailing List Discussion
• Homepage
• DXF design files for the laser cut parts
• COMPLETE DXF files
• original design files (Creo Elements / Direct Modelling Express) 
• Award by Make Magazine