MORLOCK mk4

By Curt

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A custom project board specially designed to run paintball markers, but capable of far more.

Mark IV Now Available!

Bluetooth configurable with Android

App now available in Downloads

Features

As paintball marker driver the MK4 has nearly unlimited flexibility:

  • Can be configured remotely with an Android phone over bluetooth
  • Runs on a single LiPo cell (includes on-board charging, and power-converters direct from Tashi Station)
  • Built-in voltage booster, drives whatever your gun needs: 4v - 20v
  • Supports Single or Double solenoid markers
  • Fully customizable timing, configure with bluetooth or over website (wifi)
  • Open-source. All the code and designs are public
  • Supports any kind of eye, reflective or break-beam
  • 128x32 Display board fully integrated
  • Thin profile ideal for tight grips
As a generic project board, the MK4 has features any hobbyist can appreciate:
  • Arduino compatible, can be programmed as an ESP32-C6 module
  • Automatically manages LiPo charging
  • Power can be input via USB, on-board LiPo or external supply, all diode protected and isolated, yes you can hook up all three at the same time.
  • Voltage Booster is controlled via on-board PCM, completely customizable.
  • Two high-current FET switches

Products

morlock mk4 MK4 Full Package [Standard]

Everything you need for a complete custom install: Morlock mk4, wiring harness, OLED screen and LiPo power cell! Playing with the settings while someone else fires the the marker come free.

$119.99

morlock mk4 MK4 Full Package [Piggyback]

Same as the standard, but the OLED comes attached in a single compact package

$119.99

morlock mk4 MK4 Everything But The Battery [Standard]

BYOB, but everything else: Morlock board, wiring harness, and OLED screen! 9v were all the rage once, but you can go with three AA or AAA's if you want.

$99.99

morlock mk4 MK4 Everything But The Battery [Piggyback]

BYOB, but everything else: Morlock board, wiring harness, and OLED screen! 9v were all the rage once, but you can go with three AA or AAA's if you want.

$99.99

morlock board Morlock mk4

Assembled Morlock board including the 2mm 12 pin header and a 4-pin 90 degree header for the optional OLED board

$79.99

morlock board Wiring Harness

Complete set of wires and wire-header for interfacing with any paintball marker

$25.99

morlock board OLED Display

Compact OLED board the morlock board can drive directly. These are also fully supported by Arduino libraries. This will include the 4-conductor jumper required to hook it up.

$11.99

LIPO Cell

perfect for running your paintball gun all day, this ~1100mAh cell fits inside just about any grip, has easily twice the life of an alkaline 9v battery, and can be recharged by plugging the Morlock into any standard 5v USB port.

Note: a $10 shipping charge will be added when this is selected to cover the special UPS hazardous shipping.

$15.99


I create these designs and software at my own expense and sell for near cost. This is not a business for me in any "keep the lights on" sense. Any extra dosh you'd care to stuff in the tip jar goes a long way to the next software release or gadget :)

Docs

Installation Manual
Dimensions
Main header wiring diagram
Board Connections
Video on how to trigger-program the Morlock

Downloads

Click here from Android Browser to install

History

Kennesaw Mountain Markers (KM2) was founded in 1998 by me, Curt Hartung, along with a few other partners, most notably Linda Stephens, assembly-tech extrordinaire.

At that time electronic markers were very new and their capabilities largely unexplored

We pioneered the concept of custom after-market electronics in paintball markers, starting with the Gabriel chip, granting "Turbo" mode to the original Angel. I then went on to invent many features now taken for granted in modern electronic markers:

  • Anti-Chop eyes (yes we invented them)
  • Enhanced Fire modes
    • Turbo - The Saga
    • Autoresponse - from the AutoMag frame of the same name
    • Sniper - cool mode for dual-solenoid markers I first implemented on a shoebox shocker
  • Trigger Programming

The product line went on to support many other custom electronic markers and eventually saw the need for a single generic board to run them all.

The original Morlock boards, From left to right, first second and third versions.


Invented?

Yup! Early 1999 with the huge success of the Gabriel chip, it occured to me that running the marker with a microcontroller meant it could also make sure it never chopped by putting a detector in the breech. It was a natural progression and several shops came up with the idea independantly, I was just first to produce one.

Force-feed loaders were not practical yet and in fact were strictly forbidden, so the fastest hoppers at the time could feed around 11bps, slower than the new trigger-modes could fire, resulting in many chops.

After a brief prayer and few shots of JD, I took a drill press to my $1000 marker and drilled the very first break-beam eye hole.

In the wrong place.

Originally I thought it best to put the sensor in the middle of the breech, not the bottom. That way the ball could be detected falling and the bolt fired at the very instant it would be seated.

Turns out solenoids are so fast this timing advance was not necessary, and was actually a hinderance. So I drilled a second hole right at the bottom, only a hair's breadth from an internal air passage I didn't know was there because damnit, Jim, I'm and engineer not an airsmith.

That first historic Angel, the first ever electronic paintball marker to have an eye, is now proudly owned by Simon "Manike" Stephens. My understanding is he sometimes shows it off, ask him about it.


About Me

I've been a tinkerer my whole life. Computers, Go-Karts, R/C racing, Flying, if it has moving parts (real or virtual) I'm interested.

Friends introduced me to paintball around 1998 and I was never really bitten by the 'play' bug, but have always been obsessed with the 'gear' bug.

I can be contacted at curt.hartung@gmail.com

nerd

A nerd in his natural habitat, a basement workshop.