FA X-10 Bullet Feeder Mod

I built an X-10 bullet feeder upgrade that works using the mechanics of MBF (slower-rotating plate and flipping upside-down bullets). I also designed replacement electronics with a custom PCB, Arduino, and a motor driver to auto-adjust speed based on the current load and detect stalls.

Using a reed switch and magnets embedded into the feed plate, the electronics determine the current expected output and have a feedback loop to adjust it to the current load (spin with more torque while there are a lot of bullets in the hopper and slow down when there are just a few).

If anyone is interested in building one for themselves, it is involved and know-how heavy; there are printing, soldering, and Arduino programming components to it (even if the geometry of a flipper will work for your bullets as is, which is not a given). Also, this is a mod project; drilling holes in the Kydex shell of the feeder is required.

The bill of materials for the project is not too scary, but it is eclectic. I’m not expecting many folks to have the necessary components on hand.

Gergers and KiCad files are uploaded to the project. Here is the code for Arduino Nano Every.

Just to let you know, I missed the position of one of the 12V jacks by 2mm, and as a result, it will need to be soldered by a slight angle (see the picture).

If you are interested, please feel free to reach out. Make sure you are willing to put in substantial effort to repro the project for yourself and tinker with it. It is not a market-ready productized solution.

Mod in action: https://youtube.com/videos?v=2uZXHZVzhP4