Cleaning tattoo machines is an important procedure in the tattoo process. Due to the specialty of the tattoo machines, common ways of cleaning such as using warm water or rag to polish the whole set won’t actually do good. Because on the part of tattoo machines, the “dust” for them means invisible bacteria left over the device after treating each customer. Experienced and professional tattoo artists take highly priority of cleaning procedure, namely sterilization, which you may follow through below steps to gain a little more extra knowledge for developing your tattoo career:
Usually, tattoo artists take professional apparatus called ultrasonic cleaner to finish the procedure. When starting cleaning your tattoo machine, you need to first disassemble three parts of the tattoo equipments, grip, tube, and tip. Due to different tattoo machines, unloading order may differ according to the machines. Before the real sterilization these parts need some basic cleaning, like using clean water and antibacterial soaps to wash lightly the surface. After preparedness has been done, full the ultrasonic cleaner tank with proper sum of water to hold the disassembled parts. And then turn on the clean machine for about 5-10 minutes. Take out the grip, tube and tip to dry, naturally, or by special clean rag.
Finishing all the advance-phase preparation, we may enter into the sterilizing step of the cleaning. At this process, we use apparatus called autoclave sterilizer which could kill living HIV that ultrasonic cleaner could not kill. Take three bags to contain the grip, tube, and tip respectively, and make ready three sterilization trays for the three bags. Please keep note that the bags should be sealed off and have their respective sterilizer tray. Some autoclave machines may have one tray itself and only allow you to sterilize one at each time. Then do not try to take all by once.
Pour the autoclave sterilizer with distilled water about up at the middle, and start the machine for 1-2 hours for the sterilizing. When it’s ready and the indicating number turns to 0, you could put your gloves to take the bags off and dry them.
Basically, this is the whole procedure of cleaning the tattoo machines. Please note that do not wash the whole set in water, which will get the coils rusted by soaking the water.
The very first thing you look at when you get a tattoo machine must be the big holding brace, the tattoo machine frame. The tattoo machine frame is like a plate that you can stick all the other single parts together, by which other parts could cooperate harmoniously and efficiently to realize the great performance of tattoo machine’s function.
The tattoo machine frame can be really strong and truly vulnerable at the same time. For the former strong character, it means that the materials which the tattoo machines are made of are usually strong enough to ensure the wastage from long working hours by the tattoo artists. For the latter vulnerable character, it actually means that no matter what the materials are, whatever the steel or else, they can be really easy to get corroded by liquids and inks. That’s why the most tattoo machine frames need careful and persistent maintenance from the tattoo artists.
There are two crafts of making the tattoo machine frames out of the raw materials, one of which is carving, the other is casting.
Let’s start with the casting first. The casting craft to make the tattoo machine frame is you use mould to contain the raw material which has been heated to liquid to fit the mould inside, and then put the mould to cool. After cooling, the formed tattoo machine frame which is casted out of the raw material can be taken out as a whole. At this phase, you could leave the rough tattoo machine frames to surface working, making the surface of the tattoo machines smooth and beautiful.
The advantage of casting is low cost and great volume production, and most tattoo machine manufactures would prefer this craft for their production and selling. However, the disadvantage of the craft by casting is that the tattoo machine frames can be really rough which show no precisions sometimes and senior tattoo artists are highly opposed to that.
Carving can solve the problem the casting has, for it adapts the computer control to make the produce process very precise. However, it enhances the producing cost and the production amount is strictly limited.
Even so, most tattoo artists would choose the tattoo machine frame which is made by carving craft to help their practice.
For experienced senior tattoo artists, they are more likely to build up their own tattoo machines with separate parts of high quality: the armature bar, the coils, and what’s more important, the tattoo machine frame.
It is not likely that you can hand made your own tattoo machine frame, in your little individual workshop, only by your simple or rough moulds and tools. Tattoo machine frame still needs professional manufacturing skills to make sure the final work performance it shows will be highly satisfying for the tattoo artists’ demand of their practice. Thus, to choose one eligible tattoo machine frame which exactly fits the tattoo artists’ expectation is truly something that needs artists to do some real research on.
Of course, the first thing that jumps out of your mind is to visit around the whole city, to find out deeply hidden tattoo machine frames in tattoo machine supplies stores. This is the most direct way although a little wasting time and energy. By directly facing to the products of the tattoo machine stores, you can compare and classify the quality of their goods and get a general image, correctly making your final decision.
However, there are always some times you could not find what you want all around your near. In this occasion, you may go on searching in the Internet to find a dreamed one. Buying or custom making your tattoo machine frame on the website has an obvious advantage which is that you don’t need to worry about the environmental restriction and location problems, and various types of the machine frames you could select from the website stores will enhance your final buying choices. However, how could you know and exactly tell the shopkeeper on the website the dimension and appearance of your expected tattoo machine frame?
Some website stores supplying tattoo machine frames will offer you a plastic mould with the whole plate, by which you could carving or design your expected appearance for the tattoo machine frame. Besides this, you could also reply to them with your drawings that show the specific data, to double make sure the final product is precise.
In short, custom making the tattoo machine frame from the website has its good aspect as well as its disadvantage. If you are a tattoo machine supplier, opening tattoo stores on the website, you should consider the disadvantages for the customers to boom your own store.
For experienced senior tattoo artists, they are more likely to build up their own tattoo machines with separate parts of high quality: the armature bar, the coils, and what’s more important, the tattoo machine frame.
It is not likely that you can hand made your own tattoo machine frame, in your little individual workshop, only by your simple or rough moulds and tools. Tattoo machine frame still needs professional manufacturing skills to make sure the final work performance it shows will be highly satisfying for the tattoo artists’ demand of their practice. Thus, to choose one eligible tattoo machine frame which exactly fits the tattoo artists’ expectation is truly something that needs artists to do some real research on.
Of course, the first thing that jumps out of your mind is to visit around the whole city, to find out deeply hidden tattoo machine frames in tattoo machine supplies stores. This is the most direct way although a little wasting time and energy. By directly facing to the products of the tattoo machine stores, you can compare and classify the quality of their goods and get a general image, correctly making your final decision.
However, there are always some times you could not find what you want all around your near. In this occasion, you may go on searching in the Internet to find a dreamed one. Buying or custom making your tattoo machine frame on the website has an obvious advantage which is that you don’t need to worry about the environmental restriction and location problems, and various types of the machine frames you could select from the website stores will enhance your final buying choices. However, how could you know and exactly tell the shopkeeper on the website the dimension and appearance of your expected tattoo machine frame?
Some website stores supplying tattoo machine frames will offer you a plastic mould with the whole plate, by which you could carving or design your expected appearance for the tattoo machine frame. Besides this, you could also reply to them with your drawings that show the specific data, to double make sure the final product is precise.
In short, custom making the tattoo machine frame from the website has its good aspect as well as its disadvantage. If you are a tattoo machine supplier, opening tattoo stores on the website, you should consider the disadvantages for the customers to boom your own store.
Tattoo Machines are the only and the most necessary appliances that are greatly helping each tattoo artist to implement their tattoo practice. Tattoo practicing is a very personal vocation, and tattoo machines are the crucial parts in the whole tattooing process, therefore choosing a befitting appliance for each tattoo artist is half the battle in the beginning.
We should not expect every tattoo artist knowing full - scale of tattoo machines to create a whole new set all by himself. Every one has a threshold level while doing something, thus great tips from tattoo veterans are highly recommended. Here below are some tips for the newly being tattoo artists:
Well, despite the price and other factors, hand feel is one of the top reasons to weigh if this is the one. There are various sizes among tattoo machines, just to fit different demands from tattoo artists. Too big or too small devices will only slow down your handcraft, not benefitting your practicing. Choosing one that has a good hand feel no matter how many devices you have to try.
Although most tattoo machines won’t do a lot changing after they get out of the plant due to the fixed construction, you could still make slight improvement to the device. Try to choose the one flexible to be adapted, for you have to make it right to match your handcraft with the machine’s strength and speed. Some tattoo machines when working will hit too much with powerful strikes, the case of which you need to pay special attention. Usually, tattoo artists would like to choose soft strength tattoo machines to practice, because they are good on the damage control for human skin.
Most tattoo machines are installed with two electromagnetic coils, so beginner tattoo artist won’t be too worried about this. One electromagnetic coil tattoo machines don’t have the same excellent effect compared to their two-leg brothers.
For new beginners, automatic tattoo machines on the speed and depth will be much greater for the practice. You can let the machine modify to the best function instead of your freshman’s adaption, then you could be more focused on the practice itself.
If you are looking for tribal tattoos, a dragon tattoo that symbolizes earth, a legendary tattoo or any other stylish popular body art, the wise choice is to get airbrush tattoo kits, which help to create airbrush tattoos that look pretty like permanent tattoos with multi-color designs. Airbrush tattoo supplies now are quite common on the Internet, pretty convenient.
You may wonder what do airbrush tattoo kits contain. Well, things are different according to the kit you buy. Mainly, four things will be contained: equipment, stencils, ink and training source.
The equipment refers to airbrushes and air
compressor. If you get a quite an awesome kit, cleaners, extra tubes etc.
will come along. The quality and style of the airbrushes and the compressor
vary from kit to kit, so the first thing you should pay attention to when
choosing a airbrush kit is making sure the kit you choose does have your ideal
brushes and compressor.
Then, keep an eye on the stencils, which are pretty essential for airbrush tattoos. They will be attached to the skin as a template, and then the designs can be transferred on the body. Usually you can get several books of computer stencil with many designs in airbrush tattoo kits.
At least 7 colors of airbrush tattoo ink will come to you in a kit. Surely you will need more if you start a business, so remember to buy more colors. What’s more, in some professional airbrush tattoo kits, besides the common ink, ink for other usages will be supplied: glowing ink radiating Kelly light in the dark, fluorescent ink radiating blue light in the UV light and finalized ink making designs last longer on the skin.
For the customer may not know how to apply a airbrush tattoo, almost all airbrush tattoo kits will offer some form of training, maybe a book, a video tape or DVD. You don’t need to ask for help, instead, you can learn it all by yourself.
Airbrush tattoos enable you to create a pretty awesome tattoo design with less pain and fewer skills are requires. Just with one airbrush tattoo kit, you can start your airbrushing tattooing right now. Why you still hesitate? Action now!
The tattoo needles inserted into tattoo machines can be called the essential core to the whole tattoo practice, which is the most direct part of tattoo machines contacting to the human bodies and leaving colorfully tattooed patterns. To know how to install the tattoo needles into the tattoo machines, the proper way to maintain it and the common problems as well as the solution to them would be very useful to most tattoo artists. Here below are some tips of knowledge for you to get an overall idea of the tattoo machine needles:
Let’s start with how to install tattoo needles.
Step one; adjust your tattoo machine into the best working condition which could be told from the clear strong working sound and high speed with powerful torsion.
Step two; check the tip of tattoo needle to see if it’s ok without damage.
Step three; use special device to remove the top hat 3 in order to take off the tip.
Step four; insert the needle from the top of the tube and hang it onto the position of contact screw, then make it fixed to the top hat grommet.
The installation of tattoo machine needles is quite easy. However, the main and real problems often show up in the middle of the working process, so we should continue with the main stoppage of tattoo machines needles.
Problem one; the inserted tattoo needle doesn’t move along when it’s penetrating the skin.
When this happens, the reason might be the curved hook of the needle or the over length of the needle tip. If so, smooth the needle and adjust the tube to short the tip length. When all these do not help, that means low voltage block the movement of the needle which need you to check your power supply.
Problem two; the tattoo needle displays an off and on working state.
This is mainly caused by the poor contact between the spring and the coils, or the over heat generated by the tattoo machines due to long time working. If according solutions do not help, check your power supply again, because low voltage may cause this problem, too.
After the tattoo machines start to work up, the contact screw should be slowly adjusted to reach the best connection point to the spring. During the adjusting process, the working voltages of the tattoo machines would be accordingly changed to the tightness between the screw and the spring. You could use your index finger to hold the tip of armature bar slightly to make sure the strength is to your ideal degree. By the way, remember to notice this: the less the current passing through a normally working tattoo machine is, the better the performance of this tattoo machine would be.
The slowly and carefully adjusting of the working voltage, also with the same tightness of the contact screw and the spring, both could make the armature bar strong enough, which will ensure the tattoo machines working in a very smooth and stable condition. If a tattoo machine is under the best working condition, the working sound it makes will be clear and melodious, without any harsh noises.
A tattoo machine will need to start under 3 volts, and work not more than 12 volts too often, which will vary while using different tattoo machine power supply. High quality tattoo power supply will allow the machine start from 0 volts and work up to 18V. There is no real rule of thumb for how many volts you need to make your machine run in a certain way. Some machines will need more voltage than others. Some artists will prefer to use more voltages than others. It is important to be aware that the voltage is only one aspect of how your machine runs. Voltage must make complements to the spring resistance, the geometry of the machine and the type of coils you are using.
There are pretty many things that you need to do when you get new tattoo machines and make your personal adjustment. However, sometimes breakdown and stoppage may show up during the tattooing practice, of which some may be caused by the inappropriate adjustment in the beginning, or, the unexpected tripping of the wires. When this happens, the indicate light of the tattoo machines would turn green from the normal red, while at the same time, the voltage shows with Zero. Most professional tattoo machines are installed with electric protectors for overload and tripping, to protect the machines from being damaged. On this occasion, turn off the shift knob of the tattoo machines immediately, and check every parts of the tattoo machines until finding out the real causing reason.
Now you may start adjusting up once again with your tattoo machines, turn on the shift button and do the job from the scratch. After get the satisfying result, you could tighten the screw to lock it to work.
Although the primary functions of tattoo machines are already set out when they get out of the plants, there are still many modifications you could do, and you need to do, because the tattoo practice is a very personal process and so as the tattoo machines. Different tattoo artists may express different demands for their tools so that to fit their unique hand craft.
The first thing you need to do when you get a new tattoo machine is to connect it with the alternating current, so called power pack. Usually, the voltage for professional tattoo machines is around 220 or 110V according different country, which would then be enough to start the tattoo machines with the indicator light coming on of red. Now you could rotate the adjusting knob of the machine by clockwise rotation totally according to your habit, usually around to the point of 10 voltages. Then, take up the professional clip cord, and plug both the two tips of it into the two poles of the tattoo machine body respectively. The wire has two tips at both ends, so now the other two tips can be hooked into the jacks at the back of the tattoo machines. There is another plug you need to install, which is the one controlling the foot pedal of the tattoo machine, you need to insert this plug to the power outlet along side the machine.
Basically, the whole first step is to make ready all the power and wires connection work ready, to give the tattoo machines enough and convenient motivation to create perfect works of tattoo art.
After all the preparation work done, you could do some slight adjustment to the tattoo machine: loosen the contact screw until it lightly touches the spring, be sure the contact strength is light and soft, because this is mostly to prevent the sudden tripping, which is right caused by too tighten connection between the contact screw and the spring. When tattoo machines get starting up, too tighten connection would lead to over load of tattoo machines so that result in above tripping problems.
Now you get into the
second whole step of adjusting your tattoo
machines, stepping slightly on the floor push to let power in, and now your
machines start to work.
Modern tattoo industry is very prosperous. Tattoo artists have high skilled crafts and tattoo appliances that are duly exquisite no matter cheap or expensive. However, when we recall the retrospection of the tattoo industry beginning, it would definitely lead to prisoners in the old times to mark their gangs or power.
But the question is, when in the prison, how did they get tattooed on their own body? Where did they get the tattoo equipment? Or if they had tattoo machine kits being able to help them finish tattooing when the circumstances was lack of tools and sterilization?
Actually, making a set of cheap tattoo machines with common things in our daily life is much easier than you can imagine. Without the help of a professional tattoo machine to draw a tattoo on your body, you can make a simple one to do the nail job.
Things below are necessary: a fountain pen, a tooth brush, an eraser, a lighter, guitar strings, ink, batteries, tapes and a small motor which would operate the batteries.
Let’s start with the fountain pen. Take off the ink tube and get rid of its ball. Cut a proper section of the guitar string making the needle to fit into the tip of the fountain pen.
Remove the bristles of the tooth brush, and then use your lighter to heat in the middle to make the tooth brush in 90 degree form. Hold it until it’s stiff.
Join the above two items together with your tapes. And then put it aside to the nest staff.
Take the eraser to attach the middle of the motor shaft, and the put the end of the guitar string into the eraser.
Now the last thing is to find a power source. Then contact the batteries to the switch to make the motor work.
Basically the whole thing is done. If you are not very certain about the working condition of your handmade tattoo machine, you can try it on a banana.
In old times, prisoners usually use this way to make their tattoo machine. Making a tattoo machine yourself is not for money-saving, but for fun and to learn more about the work of it. We now are pretty lucky as we can choose from a large series of cheap tattoo machines that do really good tattooing job.
Then there came Thomas Riley, who made out one set of tattoo machines with a single coil operated to work by electromagnets, got his invention just twenty days after O’Reily patented his machine.
When 1899, Alfred Charles Smith, another smart guy in London, doubles the coil in tattoo machines, which lead to the close prototype of today’s devices. The first version of this two- coil electromagnet tattoo machines is very heavy, it can be no exaggeration to say that while working they sometimes need to be fixed onto the ceiling of the tattoo studio and then hung down to the tattoo artists for work.
In the next 200 years, tattoo machines basically maintain the original design and the appearance, which, around 1929, had then been slightly improved and developed by Percy Waters; an American lived in Detroit, who promoted the tattoo machines and set them in the tune of the modern way.
Although the set that Waters modified was with two coils in line with the tattoo machine frame, Waters had done a lot of other different changes to tattoo machines, such as on and off switch and spark shield. Due to his various modifications, he was the very first inventor who promoted tattoo machines into large market.
Fifty years later from then, in 1979, Carol Nightingale from Washington D.C. got his tattoo machine patented. He made full adjustments of coils, back spring mount and contact screw, as well as angled armature bar and so on.
With deeper development of technique, tattoo machines got more artistic precision and the control of speed and needle depth. In recent 2000, revolutionary pneumatic tattoo machines were invented by Carson Hill, which using air to work instead of electromagnets, to make the needle penetrating more smoothly.
You could say tattoo machines have gone through many modifications during these hundreds of years. However, no matter how many modifications they’ve been undergone, they will never suits each tattoo artist’s demand and individual application , because tattoo practice is personal, so as the tattoo machines. There could never be an end of continuing designs towards tattoo machines, and in America and Europe there are still many tattoo artists working on new inventions of tattoo machines, though not each time is a improvement, but the search goes on.
Although in many tattoo artists’ opinion it is very easy to assemble homemade tattoo machines, it is until 1800s that came out the first version of tattoo machine invention. With a history of nearly 200 years developing, tattoo machines then gradually become what now most artists use. Now, let’s take a short look at the history of this wonderful device.
Not long after Thomas Alva Edison invented the stencil pen in 1876 did Samuel O’Reilly get his patent on the tattoo machines with a little change to the former, which opens the gate to the prototypes of the modern tattoo machines, and gives tattoo artists a greatly useful assistant.
However, if without electromagnetism, tattoo machines would not exist or work freely as now they do either. Thus besides Thomas Edison and Samuel O’Reilly, there are the other two masters whom most tattoo artists should thank, Oersted, a Danish who discovered the basic electrical principle of electromagnetism, and Thomas Riley from London, who developed the electromagnetic device, which do a lot of good to tattoo machines.
Though it could be said Samuel O’Reilly was the undisputed owner and pioneer in inventing the first tattoo machine, it is in fact that Thomas Alva Edison, who lived in Newark, got the basic idea of penetrating the colorful powder into the cloth or paper with sharp pinheads. However, painting on cloth or paper didn’t suggest him that, it could be in the same way to paint the ink into human‘s body, and then promote tattoo practice into one of the most flourishing and fashion art in all over the world.
Like tattoo machines, the devices with the working principle of stencil pen are now still used in many fields of painting. If you get a chance to look carefully into one of such appliances, you can surprisingly find out how similar the modern tattoo machines are with it. Actually, yes, the little change made by Samuel O’Reilly, was only a redesigned tube and an added ink reservoir to it.
With those fundamental modifications to the Edison’s invention, modern tattoo machines soon appeared in the public and became promoting assistants of tattoo artists. The added ink chamber and adapted tube made the new born devices so easy and applicable to paint on the human body.
