Voltage. I heard a long time ago on here that voltage increases the hit of the machine, i.e. makes it more penetrable to skin. I have also heard that it speeds up the machine... Which is the true comment? I thought that the springs and gap between the front spring and contact screw controls the speed (along with the throw). Please put my mind at ease! I've been going through somewhat of an epithany recently with my machine setups. I was doing some test colour fill on my thigh the other day because I was getting fed up with the ink not being solid on the first pass (black ink), I fiddled with the voltage slightly (made it run higher, 9v to be prescise) and the next pass I tried went it flawlessly! Needless to say I wrote down my findings for the future as I didn't want to forget this anytime soon! Do you think my voltage was too low so the needle wasn't penetrating the skin enough? Or did I fluke it? I was using the same method of filling in i.e. overlapping circles, going at a slow steady pace.

One other thing...Vaseline. Do you really need to use this on the skin you are tattooing or is more for your palm to slide across? I done a few patches on myself without any at all and the ink seemed to take to the skin better, I also haven't put any lotion or anything on the little patch since doing it at the weekend and it seems fine. What's your views on vaseline whilst tattooing, good or bad?

P.S. Sorry I haven't been on here in a long time, I kind of went off the beaten track with tattooing since losing the bottle to carry on as some days my fill/lining was good and other times not so good. I have also moved home so that kinda side tracked things, but I am wanting to get back into it now, hence why I have been practicing again on fake skin and my own skin. I've had endless requests from people to tattoo them but I have been refusing them, do you guys/gals get this all the time too? Do you feel like you have to reject them sometimes because their ideas are too detailed or intricate? I do, especially with woman who want dainty things on their foot for example... Scares the hell out of me, hence why I have been putting them off! But I've got to do a dame at some point, can't be doing men all the time... That sounded a bit gay... I'll stop now.

P.S. Please answer my questions.

Increasing the voltage will increase your hit, and very slightly increase your speed.

Increasing your voltage and having the ink set in better probably had to do with your theory of needle not penetrating enough. Or the increased voltage brought your machine into a more optimal tune. A little more voltage could have been all it took to cut the inefficient chatter and get your machine singing.

And now that your back, Sir Unicorn, Welcome Back! Just in case click >>here and >>here

They're all valid questions mate. This is the way i see it.

Yes voltage increases the hardness of the hit and the speed of the machine but the speed is only effected slightly. As you quite rightly said machine speed is dictated by spring gauges/thicknesses, size of air gap, back spring compression, weight of abar, how many and how tight your elastic bands are, what size needle your using etc...If you hook up an eikon or similar power supply and turn up the voltage on the machine the Hz hardly changes this is a pretty good indication that more voltage doesn't mean more speed.

It takes a while to find your comfort zone as far as voltage is concerned because of your hand speed and general style of working. Try to use the most effective voltage for the situation. If you get the tribal black in better on 9 volts why lower the voltage? Give the machine whatever power it seems to need to do the job asked of it.

Vaseline or whatever ointment you use is down to personal preference. I know tattooists that use it and i know those that don't with equally good results. Again if you find that you can get the ink in better without then fine don't use it. Just be careful you're not dry wiping your customers because they won't thank you for it after a couple of hours.

Don't do work you feel you're not up to yet? Critique your work closely, be firm but fair. I think every good tattooist needs to be confident in their abilities but arrogance is bad and very negative and must be kept in check. Take baby steps, do small tribals first. Avoid over complicated designs, small detailed designs, circles and straight lines. Also don't be fooled into thinking that lettering is easy and simple. Lettering will show up all your weaknesses and is very difficult to rectify if you make a mistake.

Use your common sense, common sense isn't that common!

This post has been edited by jOE bLOW: Oct 6 2009, 11:46 AM

Cheers for the speedy replies guys, it's much appreciated! Cheers for those links J.D. I have checked those out before, believe me, it was the first thing I looked at when I first registered on this site! I am probably the most anal person you could meet when it comes to tattoo safety and hygiene, but then everyone should...

Thanks for the pointers Joe, it's all valuable information to me. I have done quite a few designs in the past and I am tending to stick to tribal as much as I can for now until my confidence and ability improve, nothing too technical for now! I have done lettering and I do admit that it is hard to get those lines pefectly straight! It was a good insight and experience doing it but it turned out pretty good for my first attempt at it and my mate/volunteer was stoked. I won't do any intricate stuff then until I am confident in myself, no way man! I want to but I think I will let myself naturally slip into harder and more intricate stuff as I get better. The thing is though that most girls want the small dainty stuff and I just have to say no, oh well, the boys usually pick good stuff to try. I've got a chap wanting the Liver bird on his arm soon, he's only got a couple of titchy tiny one's that his mate done in school with indian ink and a needle, so he wants a bigger, proper one doing on him. Should be a good test as that design is very curvey, basic but still technical but in a good/forgiving way.

I'll stay clear of Vaseline for now though, I always wipe with green soap anyway so nothing's ever dry. I'll probably only use Vaseline on edge of my palm to help the machine glide but that's it! As for the machines, that's cleared up a lot for me, I'll stick to what I know works for now and keep it that way. The big test will hopefully be sometime this week when another mate of mine wants a load of old tattoos covered up with tribal. People knock it saying that it's boring and all, but the lining of it is probably the best way to practice for other complicated designs in the future, hence why I don't mind.

Anyway, cheers for the tips and for releasing my endorphins!