Any interest in a new Morlock Board?

[DocsMachine]

Availability. UTBs are impossible to find these days.

-Bingo. I thought Scenario Dreams dropped the T-Board a decade ago.

I'm sure a lot of the ebolt guys would love one, especially if it could run a Mac43 (higher voltage) noid. And assuming it was able to run dual noids, I'm sure the shoebox crowd and the AKA crowd would love them.

-Curt'll have the basics, I'm just the mouthpiece on this one. I seem to recall the old Morlock could run pretty much whatever voltage you needed, and I recall at least one going in a Rainmaker all those years ago.

Hell, if it could run an MQ valve, I'd be down for one. I'd actually be able to build the UL midblock trilogy I shelved a while ago.

-Don't see why it couldn't. And dual-solenoid operation is a given- I want to recreate the original E-Cocker prototype I first made back in early '01:



Doc.

[iamthelazerviking]

A little off topic but what barrel is that DocsMachine ?

[DocsMachine]

I'll be in for a few if can run eblade guts and uses a regular 9v battery

-Pretty sure it'll be 'yes' on both, just keep in mind, again, this is not a "drop in" kit. For an E-Blade, you'll at least need to come up with a way to mount a trigger switch, and may have to finagle a power switch, too.

Doc.

[Jordan]

-At worst, you'll have to wire the connector. In the old days, you either got the bare connector (the plastic block) and some pre-terminated wires, or I think at one point he had the connector coming with the wires already installed.

This is a 'budget' setup- not really to make money, just to satisfy a small need. You may get, as I did back in the day, pre-cut and unterminated wires, and have to crimp the connectors on. I'll ask Curt about that. (You gents are also welcome to post directly in that Guild thread.)


Doc.

That I can do. I'm in for at least one... depending on final price, maybe a few.

[Shaftski]

I ran into this problem recently, my 2 angel LCD's are down without functional screens. Could not justify throwing down a few hundred to bring those back to life. Had parts laying around and went for it.

What does he plan on using for a chip? I made a modular prototype based on Cortex-MO, you can get those dev boards for 10 bucks in single quantities now, size of a quarter. Really liking these chips, blows dated Atmega tech out of the water.

LiPo management really should be built in, it's cheap to do. Daughter boards are out there for $2 in quantity, they'll hande charging, boost, overvoltage, you name it.

If he can get it to fit in a 2k2 timmy frame, i might invest. I don't have the patience to do a board design that small.

[superman]

I would look and see if other companies are working on something similar. I know Sci-fi and also enoch were kicking around a universal style board.

I would also look and see what his market actually looks like. Scifi is making boards for timmys, vikings, excals, cockers, shockers. Enoch for angels. Purple people eater for angels. So before he dives in and ends up over his head id probably talk to those guys and see what they have planned.

[Siress]

Is TAG not selling the Predator Morlock board still? Huh. Incidentally, I recall installing one in a Sandridge F5 while I was working there.

Anyway, I think most players (maybe even most MCBers) are incapable or disinterested in performing the work involved to convert to a Morlock. It's well beyond the normal marker restoration process.

• building a wiring harness
  • de-soldering existing components, soldering new wire harness, definitely not crimping but the harness can be supplied pre-crimped with excess wire length...
• machining any necessary features
  • battery clearance, eye holes, switch mounting...

That said, I'd love to know the option is out there... just not sure if it's profitable to produce them.

[December]

I have a morlock board in my angel that will only function on fully automatic.... Can not change off of it.... But I would be interested in a couple. But I would look out for Sci-Fi because I think they are already in the works....

[DocsMachine]

What does he plan on using for a chip?

-There's a fresh post about the build on the Tinker's Guild post linked at the beginning of this thread.

LiPo management really should be built in, it's cheap to do. Daughter boards are out there for $2 in quantity, they'll hande charging, boost, overvoltage, you name it.

-I believe that's already in place. You can, as I understand it, run a plain 9V if you want, or a small LiPo pack which can be automatically charged through the USB port.

If he can get it to fit in a 2k2 timmy frame, i might invest. I don't have the patience to do a board design that small.

-Current dims are 1/2" wide and 2" long.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

I would look and see if other companies are working on something similar.
I would also look and see what his market actually looks like.

-Keeping in mind this is NOT a full-production, we're gonna-be-rich! type project. Curt's a tinkerer like the rest of us, and just got the proverbial "wild hare" to do a little project like this. It's literally a case of he'll probably only put together a few dozen, depending on demand.

And "seeing what the market is like" is the entire purpose of this post. We all know that small-circuit-board development is relatively easy and fairly cheap these days, with Arduino type board available for virtually pennies. We're kind of in the opinion that if there was a demand, well, somebody would have done it already.

The thing here, as I see it, is there's nowhere near enough demand for even a small company to invest in making a run of several hundred, let alone several thousand. But there may be enough demand for a couple dozen, and that's something a guy like Curt can handle, especially if he's not worried about making an actual profit.

Is TAG not selling the Predator Morlock board still?

-Pretty sure those haven't been available in over a decade. Last one I installed was, like, '06.

Anyway, I think most players (maybe even most MCBers) are incapable or disinterested in performing the work involved to convert to a Morlock. It's well beyond the normal marker restoration process.

-Entirely true. And again, this isn't a case of this being an Ultimate Solution that will fix every marker. It's just an option for those that want to tinker. As noted a couple times earlier, places like Enoch, Sci-Fi and apparently even Scenario Dreams, have premade, drop-in boards for several markers and E-blade frames. The Morlock isn't intended to replace or outsell those- it's purely intended for the tinkerer who wants to... well, tinker.

Kind of like the old days when guys would convert PGPs over to autococking semiauto pistols- there was absolutely no performance benefit, you did that sort of thing just for fun and the spectacle of actually trying it on the field.

just not sure if it's profitable to produce them.

-It's almost certainly not. As noted, if there was a profit to be had, I strongly suspect somebody would have done it already. This is a one-man just-to-scratch-an-itch type project.

I have a morlock board in my angel that will only function on fully automatic.... Can not change off of it.

-What kind of Morlock? There's the original, the Mini Morlock, and at least two versions of the Predator Morlock. Curt or I might be able to diagnose and/or fix that for you- and if it's an original or Mini, the new board's header will supposedly be wire-for-wire compatible. Pop the old one out, drop the new one in, tweak a few parameters, go play.

Doc.

[gabe]

This would be sweet for an NXL ramping legal Rainmaker if the dwell setting was high enough.

[Jordan]

This would be sweet for an NXL ramping legal Rainmaker if the dwell setting was high enough.

You'll only get 12bps out of it anyways, might as well stick with 10.x.

[gabe]

Sorry yeah whatever the 10.5 ramping is called now. PSP ramping?

[Brokeass_baller]

YES. I could use two right now. And that $40 price tag is very appealing.

[XEMON]

I could use a few too.
the $40 price point makes it much more appealing to me ... Dropping $80 into just the board is a bit too steep for my wallet ...

Would it be open source?
I have a full electronic/soldering/PCBA troubleshooting/rework/repair shop at home (through and surface mount) ... If I can buy the PCB bare and the components loose (both from you maybe?), I don't mind putting a batch together for people.
Also, don't mind doing the assembly and sending them back to you ... Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

How would be the programing interface?
Button and led? Or do we have to get on the computer and download the C++ code?

[flyweightnate]

I'd probably get one
and let it languish in a box for a few years, then finally install it.

[mercpb]

it's like you were reading my mind up until... "finally install it"
oh also realized I'm posting on a 2021 post. Well. Seems consistent with the topic hah

[DocsMachine]

For anyone genuinely interested in a Morlock- which can apparently do quite a few more things than just run a paintball gun, though that's what it was designed for- they're now in stock in limited quantities.

And there's some videos giving a little bit of a rundown on them, over on the Tinker's Guild.

Again, just the mouthpiece on this one. Any specifics, talk to Curt.

Doc.