I was asked to write a tutorial on my take on machine set-up, tuning, maintenance etc...I must first clarify that this isn't a hard and fast set in concrete dogma that you guys have to follow. These are just some snippets of information on machines that i have picked up over the years. I'll try to keep it user friendly because i want this to help everybody out, from beginner through to experienced skin carver( ).

Lets start with a diagram of a machine with all the parts labelled:






Stare at these until they're burned on your eyelids (don't take this literally, i don't wanna get sued!).

The very first thing you should do when you receive your new machine is run it for 10 hours or so straight. To do this put your machine on a cloth (so it doesn't move when it's vibrating) then place something heavy on your footswitch so that it stays on. Check on it every now and again for safety but don't switch it off til it's been on for long enough. This process is to help settle the parts and is something often neglected by beginners.

Right, now that's done, it's time to tune! This is something that strikes fear into the heart of A LOT of tattooists, so to help you avoid reoccuring machine nightmares heres a few explanations of the major parts of a tattoo machine and their functions.

Coils:
Your coils are the engine of your machine and therefore are very important for a nice running machine. Despite what is generally believed there is no must have coil wrap (layer) that is ideal for liners or shaders, a 12 wrap machine can be made to run similar to a 6 wrap with a few alterations. But having said that 6-8 wrap coils are more popular for liners and 10-12 wrap coils are more popular for shaders. A 12 wrap machine will get hotter than a 6 wrap machine because the wire is longer in a 12 wrap machine thus more resistance is encountered and more heat is produced as a result. Coils are very simple things, their purpose is to allow current to flow through the wires wrapped around their cores thus creating a magnetic field which pulls the armature bar down. It's really that simple. Your armature bar should only hit the front coil and it should hit it at parallel or close to it. There should be a small gap between your rear coil and the armature bar, about enough to place a folded cigarette paper in (according to the great Paul Rogers).

Springs:
In order for your liner to have a strong hit you want a relatively stiff spring gauge. The higher the number of the gauge of the spring, the stiffer the spring is e.g. a 22 gauge spring is stiffer than an 18 gauge spring. An 18-20 gauge front spring and back spring combination is ideal for a liner, 16-18 is better for a shader. Remember that because of the extra spring stiffness the liner will have to work harder in order to bring the armature bar down than the shader. The tension of the back spring decides the compression of the front spring, with this in mind a 16 front spring with a 20 back spring wouldn't work together efficiently. The angle of your springs depends greatly on what stroke length you are after. Which leads us to:

Stroke:
This is down to pure preference but i tend to like a medium to long stroke on my liners and my shaders. You can achieve this by increasing the angle of your back spring. To do this undo the screw on your spring saddle, swing your spring and armature bar out 180 degrees and bend your back spring SLIGHTLY. Put your spring and armature back ensuring that it is lined up with your contact screw and tube vice. Do this by looking down the nipple on your armature bar and through the tube vice, adjust as necessary. You will have to back off on your contact screw to allow for this adjustment. Set the screw until you are happy with the sound and performance of your machine. Your long stroke machines armature bar should have an almost wavering motion when switched on, this is an optical illusion and is also a good indicator that your duty cycle is close to the ideal of 50%. Another trick to tell how your machine is running is to look down on the top of your armature bar and look for a "figure of 8" that appears and gives an idea to how well your machine is running. The potential for skin damage is increased by the longer stroke so be sure that you are confident with your machines before attempting this. Do not hang your needles out while shading/colouring because it will just snag on the skin and cause excessive skin trauma.

Capacitor:
Capacitors block direct current and allow alternating current to pass. An eletrolytic axial capacitor consists of a ceramic cylinder with a wire coming out of each end. A smaller capacitor will make the machine run faster because it stores and releases the current quicker. Capacitors are measured in microfiads which symbol is uf. 47uf 35v or 47uf 25v capacitors are ideal for liners of configurations 1-3 needles. Capacitors that are ideal for tattoo machines are 47uf 35v, 47uf 63v, 100uf 35v, 100uf 25v. Voltage should be no more than 63v as it is excessive. Capacitors are regulators of the current passing through the coils. The current is thus regulated and smoother.

Remember that your power supply effects the power of the pull of your coils NOT the speed of your machine. The speed is highered/lowered by adjusting springs, stroke and to some degree the capacitor used.

The speed (Hz) and voltage you choose to run your machines at is down to your personal preferance and tattooing style. There is a synchronicity that needs to be present between the tattooist and the machine he/she is using. A fast hand movement with a slow machine = chewed up skin, a slow hand with a fast machine will produce the same result. Therefore try to gauge wether your hand speed is slow or fast and adjust your machine accordingly. Try to tune your machine according to your pigment consistency too. A thick ink won't be injected into the skin sufficiently with a fast machine, again adjust your machine accordingly ie slow it down possibly by backing off on the contact screw or using softer springs. Obviously you will need to increased the hit of the machine the bigger the needle configuration you are using, do this by simply turning your power supply up. The bigger the surface area of the needles the more resistance they will encounter from the skin thus needing more power to puncture the skin sufficiently enough to successfully deposit your pigments.

Be sure to maintain your machines by cleaning them regularly, put a protection bag over them while they are in use and clean off any carbon deposits that might collect on the front coils by a little gentle filing. Little things like this can keep your machine purring like a spoilt fat cat. Look after your machines because they are tattooing, not you!



Cheers

Joe

nice one Joe, great topic

No shit , if you can't learn anything from this you should be considered legally retarded.

thanks Joe --- printed, read and filed in my machine folder for reference!! respect!!

Excellent stuff guys!! this is what ive been waiting for!! nuf respect!!

awsome article, exactly whats i was looking for, just a few questions; i feel like if i ran my machines for 10hrs straight it would melt the shrink wrap on my coils and burn a hole in my front spring, after about an hour of tattooing my machines get pretty warm so i usualy put them down for a bit, wouldent they continue to get hotter and hotter? and if turning the voltage up on your power suplly does nothing but increase the power of the hit then why does it sound, look and feel like its running faster? not that i dont believe the article i just like to know the whys of what im doing

You might have a shitty machine then mate. Most tattooists need to depend on their machines and 10 hours is just a busy day in your average street shop. You don't necessarily have to run your machine in on the voltage you would normally use it on, you're not tattooing anybody, you're just running the machine in.

The power of the machine's hit is increased when you turn the power supply up so it might seem that your machine is running faster when it is in fact just running harder. This is a good indication of your spring set up. If the machine speeds up when you turn the voltage up then your machine's set-up could be wrong. Your machines springs, cap, coils and voltage all need to be synchronised. A machine that is meant to be run soft on 11 volts is gonna sound like shit and a Micky Sharpz (with original parts) running on 6 volts aint gonna work either. Learn how your machine should be working and if in any doubt consult the manufacturer to find out the ideal voltage.

will you marry me joe?
thanks heaps mate

great post guys very informative!! should help anyone who reads it. maybe it should be pinned?

This post has been edited by tatboy69: Oct 29 2007, 09:03 PM

awesome dude great post i agree with tatboy can it be pinned for later reference it,s bound to be asked again and again

done

Thanks for the offer mate, but i don't marry blokes . Besides i'm already taken. She's a very lucky lady you know!

hey there joe, i'm confused about the "figure 8". can you explain to me a lil more about it? thanks

thanks alot for sharing your info man...I can never get enough of reading ways of setting up and running mahines

look at your armature bar straight on where the nipple goes to hold your needlebar on the armature. when it vibrates it should osculate up and donw whiel still touching looking like an eight not an oval.

i get it now, thanks mark

JUST what I was looking for, thank you!

good shit. make more sense now. always here about slowing ur machine down but didnt know if i should adjust the contact screw or the volts. now i know.

What if you have trouble finding this info??
Any advice on how to find out how it should be running?Or just trial & error?
thanx

Yup.. or if you can get someone to look at it for you that's good too...