Nintendo controlled RepRap

Project Goal:
The overall goal of this project named, " Printrbot Nintendo Ed." Is to create a Nintendo themed printrbot that fixes or solves any issues with the original Printrbot design. I am also doing this build with the majority of the parts re-used or donated. Once this printrbot is done I will print the parts for 3 more. One will be donated to a local school, one will be passed on to an avid reader and participators of this site. The third one will be donated to who ever gives the most contributions to this build or they will have the option of having other parts printed for their use. Donations are also currently being taken for all other parts needed for the one being donated to a local school. I think that it is very important that kids get to learn how to build and operate repraps at a young age. They will learn so much from building, printing and maintaining their Printrbot. It turn the school will be printing parts for at least 3 more Printrbots. Feel free to get a hold of me for questions and possible donations. I am also available to help out builders or  "newbees."
I love old skool stuff like atari, Nintendo and hammer pants. So I figured I would implement my old skool Nintendo controller for manually jogging the print head. This doesn't necessarily have a real use, but I thought why not it looks cool and I know how to do it from my Cnc builds. The only difference with 3D printing is that for this use I will need to add another port for communicating with the Nintendo controller. In order to do this I will have to make sure I have a "flag" that will activate the controller only in GUI-mode and deactivate it during print cycles. I will update this post soon as I am almost done. Another reason I'm doing this is for calibration. I can measure the distance jogged and calibrate it to steps. Pictures and updates coming soon.
***Also check out my Nintendo reprap power supply. A match made in heaven****
UPDATE: Feb 15th 2013:--->
Some people on the Printrbot page have suggested some ideas about the build. Some of them include, 8 bit old skool music playing during print head movement as well as being able to play Tetris while printing. I am definitely taking these as well as many others into consideration. I have updated the pictures as well as finished my new motor idler. The new one works much better. The picture of the idler close up you will notice a weird belt and gear. These are for mock up only and are not being used.
UPDATE Feb 15th 2013--->
Going with the Nintendo theme I added a Nintendo power and reset button as well as a pilot lite. I'm going to use the reset button as an emergency stop button. I don't know many people that have implemented an "E-stop," or emergency stop on repraps. I mostly adopted it from my Cnc experiences. I think its an important feature to have for every reprap machine. While printing things can go real bad real quick and with this option you can shut everything down to prevent any damage. Plus it just looks plain cool. Printrbot Nintendo edition is well on its way. New updates to come, check back soon.
UPDATE Feb 16th 2013--->
I decided to add a little Nintendo flare to make it a little more official looking. Its got a Nintendo original warranty card on the back as well as the official Nintendo maker build stamp on the front est 1980's gotta love it. Its all coming together. I also placed the Nintendo build number on the Printrbot . Its the little things that bring it all together. I'm also working on the screen.
UPDATE: Feb 20th 2013---> After much research I have decided to change my belt setup for the print table. Due to the added size I think I need to rethink belt, motor and motor idler bearings position. I've noticed that this can be an issue for standard size printrbots and is definitely an issue as you extend the axis on the bed. Wobble is what it is commenly referred to as. I've decided to make it an option on mine whether I choose to run the belt from one side or run it from the middle. I have started to design and build the new setup. The nice part about the way I designed it is the fact that I can switch between either option in about 5 to ten minutes due to the the layout of my machine as well as the fact that I designed it to easily be able to switch between the two. As you may know by know I love options as well as being able to solve multiple issues with one solution. On another note I will be out of town soon for about a week so I will not be able to physically work on my build but I will take that time to further update this site and work on further designs. The reason for my trip is to work on further development of the 5 Axis RepRap. This I am very excited about. I will update with information as soon as I can
Check out the build log for updates.
To see the Printrbot Nintendo Edition. Build log click here.

Update on build

As of February 3rd 2013, I have made it this far. My build is coming along nicely but unlike most I am not racing to finish my build because I want to make it the best possible build. So far I have solved a few problems. The next few issues I can see are going to be stability in the vertical rods on the z axis. The main issue I will have during this build is designing and creating a "hot-end" with what I have laying around. I have started to gather parts. Another issue that I may or may not need to address is horizontal y axis. I haven't yet determined if any problems will arise.

The start of the Printrbot repstrap

This is the very start of the printrbot Nintendo Edition build. I'm sure there will be many changes and upgrades to follow. Here is the updated build log.click here

PrintrBot is becoming somewhat repstrap

I recently recieved parts to build a printerbot but after doing research I found that it had a lot going for it. Such as the axis's can be extended with a few rods for the most part. I al
so found a lot of downfalls. Such as the problems with sagging motors under the print bed from heat radiation and the lack of overall rigidity. So I decided that I was going to build a Printrbot the way it should of been built in the first place. I will be going step by step to try and address and fix all the downfalls to make the ultimate Printrbot. The first problem I undertook was the eventually sagging motor X axis. as well as the main base structure. I wanted to strengthen it and get away from using 4 threaded rods. Partially due to cost and also because I feel there is a better way of doing it. I figured out a mount for the motor that creates equal pressure and eliminates any lateral play.

UPDATE: Feb 2nd 2013--->
Meddling around with the mount for the X axis I came up with a better idea. I am a big fan of using one part to solve two or more problems.  I decided to make my motor mount stronger and also help dissipate any residual heat from the motor at the same time. I took a thinner heat sink, thermal paste and mounted it to the bottom of the motor as well as the motor mount. Which are both tied into the main base structure. I will update with more scientific results.

I've recently posted the complete build log for this reprap.  The title is Printrbot Nintendo edition.  The full build log. Check it out RepRap Squad has some interesting builds.