PREMIER ISSUE.

SUMMER 2001 • 5$ US
 PUiLlStin
EOITOR
TECIINICAL EOITOR
A$lOCIUE EDITOR
OESHUI ANO LAyon
PROOUCTION .ANAOER
CONTRIBUTORS
ISSUE NUMBER 1 • SUMMER 2001
SPECIAL TUNU

EDITORIAL
I LOVE TATTOOING, I REALLY
OO... BUT I'M WORR1ED ••• LAST
TIME I CHECKED, TATIOOING
WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN.
Sure, we're trying to do a good
Job and make mOMy. but after
twenty years of doing this, what
Md'::!dtil,., Will v.,1,uw-lu a'lid .. ~.
from fundamentals like changing
a capaCitor. to advanced theory
about frame geometry. If it's about
tattoo machines and equipment,
we're going to bok at It. Hope-
fully you'll learn 5Omething, work

__ -
I remember and care about on your eqUipment, tattoo better,
.. _ _ .. _ .... _ 1 0 make more money. and have
___ .......... 10<01tI>e.....
_
most IS the stuff that was fun. It
__ __ ,_
some fun.
,..... ,.._ _....
used to be, the guys who weren't
having "un were the ones who
~"11)0""
ThiS IS not gOing to be a maga~ine
dHoof_'" weren't too good at tattooing.

_-_
b<"!I_ 01 ..... about tattoos It will be a
oId _ _ ....
_ ..... 011 ...oI"""""""
__ It was like they were so worried
maga~,ne about tattooing, and

-,-......... ... "'..."

_ .......-.-.pod-....
_ _ ........ -n.
..... ~-

...... _w. ............. ...

5Omebody would figure out they
were lousy tattooers that they'd
meet all interaction head-on with
negativity. Maybe the trouble
especially about tattoo machines
Our fi~t project .... aeh,ng uk", its
name from the 1950's land-speed

. . ... be._. . _
"'-JOU',."", ...... -Lott.rI", record sett,ng JEt car. the Green

-""-_ -
_ _ 10 _ _
~· With tattooing now is that nobody
Monster. Our objeCtive ISto attain
apprentces. A lot of scary guys
.. a speed of 300 Hl. which will make

-"--"'-
-.-
fw. .. _ .. _ _ .....
don't want anybody to start
the Green Monster the world's
_ .... .,...."'...-.octt. tattooing. $0 nobody wants to
.. _...,10,...,...............
_ be responsible for teaching-50
fastest running tattoo machine. It's
easy to make a machine run 150
-~-~-..
_ _ _ _ .. ..., .. 01''''01' ...
-'"'~ ...
........,
people just don't learn. They
tattoo, but they don't know much
Hz. but to double that, you must
know how to mllXimi~e efficiency.
about being a tattooer. and they
...... U"O' ......... occo<",pon .... What we learr from pushing
.,. .....,.....,' _. "'1· ."...
~ for sure don't know anything
.... ..."..,... ............ '1_'" the limits gets translated into
....._""""'-, about the equipment .

--
.. DOlI WIllI ~ •••
0_
0_
u .. "' .... _
•
... ill'st of all we're going to try and have some
fun, so if something seems funny, laugh at it .
So this IS how I propose to make

things a little bit better... first of

all we're going to try and have
some fun, $0 if something seems
funny, I~ugh at It. If something
doesn't make sense ... don't act
like It does, ask somebody, ask a
stupid cuestion. Let's face it, ,f we
were better educated, If we were
smarter. we probably wouldn't
be tattooing. So we're going to
go over 50me pretty basic stuff
The m.:in focus of Machinegun
controlling the machine precisely.
making an everyday machine run
exactly how you want it to A lot
of tattooers say that kind of stuff
doesn't maner... ,f you think about
it, those are the same guys who
mostly are no fun. and are trying
to make $Ure nobody notices that
they don't know nothing
If they can't dig thiS ...they cen't
dig what tattooing has become.
, for one, won't miss the'iC

MACHI.EGUN
Ell'Oti DEVICE ItiC. tM
Bill BAUR M><"'"O\I"~ M_~". lo,,,,, "".1 <"I'Y"IJI'. 1OO1 N" Plrt of ,,,,, ""'9><'" mey boo "p'od,,,..;,, tt.o"

DEAN BYRNES .-m ""'" oJ ,... 1"'0 ...... 0..",0.<0<1 by E,"'" 00,,<. .... ' . Mo<" ~ M>;p.<.no. ~ """'-"Y ~
~"II'__ ON, c,,,,,,,- K7M 7Cil . .. "".--"~" ... ,com ",fo."N" ' ''''''''~,.,. .«>m
Ad ,,,.. ,,..; ",.d l "".... ,I.t><. _ ,~"""
IIIIOtilU STUGELE
CECiliA BEUOVIC
eRnUL StlELlltiG
BILL Bun , DOtitiA BARTOLltil. CECILIA BEUOVIC,
DUti BYRtiES . STACEY CASE. AtiDRU JotltlSOti
FLO W, tlAVID GARtiEAU

CONTENTS

Project Machine: Til e Creell Monsler POWl'r.• l!trough lire IJiwwillg s/(lge . .5

Machine Measurements .,., .......................... ,. .7

Interview: East coml "ou/ f'xpmu/s ilHO cyber sllUce . 5.'111 Cifi'rri ,/i.i(:U.sS{'S
lattooillg, muchill P buil./i"l!- "mllris website's Discrtssiou '"or""' ............. 8
Machine Parts ................. ,.,.,., .......................... ,. 16

Readers' Machines: Hill Hula'r'.• Milli .. " Vol/fir Muchiue ,. . .19

Cmig Driscoll: I ,ookill ' ~ood doi/l ' it Ihe righl I<"U)", 20
Keith S ,ewurt: 25 ye urs (IIul II /01 o/mur/,i",'s hiler. 21

How To: CUllill,l( SprillgS, 22

Shop Space: Pre""III;"U ojCru .•.• -Cm'I""'i",,t iou iu 'l'I/lOoiug . ....... . . ..... 28

Tattooing, What Happened? Cu/buck Murhiu,'s. 34

What's Your Problem? Techuin.I "'''/ mw;hille l/u e~ lioll s., . 36

Autoclave Cookbook: Nil" 'Illd FmllJ,s. 38
Coloring Contest ....... . 40
Classifieds . 42

MACHINEGUN
 T5 1444 LIGHT-WEIGHT
Lightnl bar wit prodo.Ke the highest~. Amust fa aetting IMler! up into
15(l's Of ~her without (1o!.i:Jg out point gop 01 4lorttninll stroke length.

T51445 MID-WEIGHT
Sets speeds in range of 110 10 1~O Hz while maintaining PfClpei point gop
OM stroke length.

T5 1446 HEAVY-WEIGHT
Modmum size bilr gives IIIIIximum wvighllo ~ m«hine down to speeds
OfOIJlld 100Hz wilhout need of inueolins point 9!lP Of Slrokl Ie"!llt..

-sp
PERFORMANCE
II you wanl it from your tattoo machine you've galla gel ilfirst in Springs and bars sold individually or in (omplele kits.
your springs and armature bar. Tru-SpringTM armature bars Look for Tru-SpringTM products of your tattoo supply
and springs are monufodured under exoding quality (ontrol shop-or tall (ikann~.
conditions on modern machinery to give you the ultimate in
performance. Speed'controlling weighted armature bars in
(oniunction with the widest range of spring gauges in the industry
ensure you (on get your mochine running right.
ell 1.800.427.8198

a •
 PROJECT MACfUNE

THE PLANNING STAGES OF BUILDING THE

WORLD'S FASTEST TATTOO MACHINE.
The most important measurement that can be made on a machine
is the speed that it runs at. Machine speed determines if a machine
will work as a liner or a shader. Most tattooers have no idea what
speed their machines run at. Some are using a liner for a shader,
and some are trying to outline with a machine that should be a
shader. They could easily fix this, if they could measure and control
FYI
the speed of their machines. Speeds of 100 to 120 Hz are common
In the late 1950's,
for shaders, and speeds as high as 150 Hz are used for liners. The
Walt Arfons came
Green Monster will break the 300 Hz barrier. We're not building this
up with the idea of
machine just to go fast. By making it run at maximum speed, we will
building a car powered
learn what the limitations of each part of the machine are. Once we by a military surplus
know that, we can figure out how to overcome those limitations, and jet engine. In 1960
engineer a better running machine. his jet car, The Green
Monster, ran 342 mph
The old adage dime gap for a liner, nickel gap for a shader implies
at Bonneville. The Green
that to adjust speed, you should adjust the point gap. Adjusting Monster also set records
point gap is the least efficient way of adjusting machine speed. It for 1 /4 mile top speed
will change the sound of the machine a lot, but not the speed. from a standing start in
1961 and 1963.
Consider this, if you can tattoo into the permanent layer of skin with the
short stroke length of a liner, why do you need a longer stroke length
on a shader? Shaders have a longer stroke length to slow the machine

down. A long stroke length is difficult to tattoo with, and there is the
potential of tattooing too deeply into the skin. Length of stroke is very
important, and should be established during the planning stages of
building a machine. Most people are running an armature bar that's
too heavy in their liner. To compensate for that they have to run overly
hard springs, the end result being they need lots of voltage. They also
generally run an armature bar that is too light in their shader. They
compensate for that with soft springs and a big air gap, the end result
again being they need lots of voltage. Speed should never be attained
by running an overly long or short stroke length. To tattoo, you need
PROJECT MACIlINE

a worku'l9 stroke length of at least 1/16 of an the two should answer some questions about
inch_ You can lock down tha t stroke length, frame material. Usually when guys work on
and st,lI get a machine to run any speed you machll'les, there's no plannlng ... but iI little
want, even 300 Hz forethough t will go a long way.

The most effiCient way to Increase speed IS IN THE NEXT ISSUE

to lighten the armature bar. To increase the
We're going to get to work building this thing.
speed even more, we will have to reduce the
comparing the frame materials. trying different
point gap and the air gap on the machine to
CapaCitors, Iremember we'll be running at 300
the minimum. The problem is, reducing the
Hz) and cutting springs for the mons ter. We' ll
air gap will leave us w it h a s troke length that
be insta ll ing a custom arm at ure bar t hat's not
is too short_ We're gOing to build a cus tom
on ly light, bu t It w il l moun t the front sprin g at
frame that will se t t he t ube vise a pproximately
a much higher angle t han usua l. We' ll d iscuss
112 inch fo rwa rd of stoc k (se e diag ra m be low).
how this affects th e follow th ro ug h of the
Th is extension of the frame base wi ll g ive
con tact points, and what fol low through is and
the mach ine ma)llmum stro ke length wi th a
how It affects your machine.
m inimal air gap. W e wi ll ba lance the short air
gap with a short point gap_ The front spring wil l
be super ha rd, and will be balanced with high
back sprong pressure. Those factors will create
ma)limum speed with a proper working stroke
length. We're going to m ake two frames, one
of alummum, and one of brass. Comparing

As distances increase from the fulcrum point, length of working stroke increases
while size of air gap remains the same.

1. the fultrum point

2. the size of the
air gap
3 . length of working
stroke with
tonventional
platement of
tube vise
4 . length of working
stroke with tube
vise moved
forword on
e xtended fra.".
 PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS 8. Back Spring Angle of Deflection

1. back spring pressure

2. weight of armature bar
3. front spring gauge
4 . point gop B
5. front spring length
6. back spring width
7. back spring gauge
8 . back spring ang le of defl ection
lsee diagram ·0 right)
9. back spring length
10. front spring angle of deflection Bad spring ongle of defle(tion must be mecsured wirhofll
1 1. air gop front spring on ma<hine.
Angle of deflellion may be meosured
ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENTS A. as on angle in relation to machine frame
8 . or as a distolKe between (entre of front (oil
speed and armature
duty cycle OIK! front spring is mounted on armoture, tie measurement
follow through between front (oil (ore and armature is the air gap.
voltage

MACHINEGUN
 S~TH CI~~RR.I Dlg~Uggtg
MA~HINtg AND 9tlNG A TATTOOm
. -
Bill Baker. Whar~ the deal ...ith
O-ringl1l'm 101nllo tell YOII right
off Ihe bat - I ean't 'land it.
Seth Cif.ffl: It makes the machine
sound better. Like. it's a qUick flK to
make it sound good, but you've got
to bump your volts up by at least
two or three. I say take them off and
throw them away. You know, I think a
lot of it comes from Mickey Sharpl..
He WIll II. produd of Ihal tim e.
How many machine. do ),ou think he's
made ?
Well, let me think I've bough t
three or four machines from him,
a while ago. One was #141, one
was #86, and one was like fi ve-
something ... and now the Mlcrodia ls
are up to around 3500.
If II. guy sold that many machines,
made that milch mone)'. ",'hydldn'l any
of it 10 back Into re.eareh , why didn't
any of It go Into II better machIne?
E~actly
I believe an awful lot of bow
I. tt_ look, or lI'hether a tattoo I,
done well , I, machine related .
You cannot talloo lood with a crappy
ronnln, machine.
You know what, I think you
can. You could do a tattoo with a
sh,tty machone.
MACHIN£6UN
•• • --.',.- .
Yeah , I could conlpensate for II
r1ghl. left and centre - but I think
there's thin,s I can acwmpll.sh wllh
a bener machine.
If you take each of the variables
that exist step by step, I thonk
that you have no choice but to do
better tattoos.
I agree - and I think Ihal ),ou can"
just gl~ somebody a machine, and
sa)' this is a lreat running machine
for everyone. Buttha!'. kind of how I
11'85 taught. I didn't even know these
van able. existed.
I know, the guy I worked for used
a pair of Spau lding Supremes ... both
exactly th e same, The onlyd ifference
was nickel shader - d ime liner.
Oh golly, here we go with this.
Wel l, you know - that was it, one
went eeeeeeee. the other was uhh
hhh unghhh hh hh, and they were
both running on those Spauldong
toaster bo~es
Yeah , those are: amuill'.
Putting out about 30 volts.
Yeah, I'd like 10 run aboul tII'ehie
rubber bands on that machine, plea",.
Beeause on zero thallhin, II pullin,
out eight ' ·Oltl.
That's what I'm talking aboutl
I want to talk alK!utthe names of
the part, on a tattoo machine. We all
know lI'hat we're: talking about , bUI
we ha>'e 10 IG throu(th a lot of effort
10 describe 1110 each olher. The back
sprllg shd' II where )"Ou boltlhe back
spring ontu the flllme. &1 I've itllloo)'1
(Ailed thallhe spring saddle. II illhe
sprinl saddle?
I would know what you're talkin"
about
Would you?
Yeah.
Sollie guy. don't - 1 wish we just
had one term that we all used,
Right - like a un iversal wo rd.
r Ihlnk there Is .tartlng 10 be a
ned fnr Ibis language. When guys
would lei together once a year at a
( on'enllon, and bave their machines
III Ihe pocket of their jealls, and take
them oul and lo .. . look at whatI'm
dollll ... they'd point to partl, or they
wou ld IITlle a leiter, and. draw a lillie
diall'llm , and lay, ~, I'm doinll this
and I'm doinlthal. But on the inlernet,
If. completely lall,uage, and I think
U's 4ifncultlo explain to somebody.
eve. talklnllo Ihem - jusl wltb
"nluage - what part of the machine
you 're talklnll aboul - or how that
machine i. runnlnll.
1
 in the site, people check out the
information on the shop,
II seems like It's manageable
righl n()W, bul we're talklng about
something that's only been going on
for a few months - wtJat are you going
to do?
I th ink what's going to happen
eventually is I'll probably get on
there two or three t imes a week and
the other guys who are real ly into it,
and involved with it the most are
going to keep it going.
I think that the websile probably
adds a wtJole other cast of charact en
10 everyday life in the s hop , I'm sure
thalth ere's 50me talk in the shop
a ooul wtJat 50 and 50 said last night.
It's definite ly a topic of d iscussion
around here. The forum's been a big
th ing for us, and it's been a lot of
fun.
H()W long has the s hop been open ?
I opened it in July of '99, I was
~t Little Vinnie's for two and a half
years. Before that, I had been in a
shop in D.C. cal led Jinx-Proof, we
opened that place in September of
'96. I stayed there for nine months,
It was a seventy-five mile commute
from where I lived. I did that five
days a wee k and was done. I was
moving anyway and Vinnie had just
opened up his new shop, which was
six miles from my new house - so I
went to work for Vinnie. Stayed there
for two and a half years, and just got
restless with dealing with the steady
flow of walk-in customers. Wel l, you
know how it is .. ,they're trying to run
a tight ship, and try ing to do things
their way
And you've got Ideas- that are
youn- I'm sure Ihat was part of the
motivation of you getting your own
place going.
Pretty much, Really, every shop
I've worl<ed in, every single shop I've
worked in I've always had something
to say about how things were run,
I'm that kind of person.
Yeah. I can see it.
like, it always upset people, and
I always understood why, You know,
if I can't keep my mouth shut, what
am I going to do?
Well, open your own shop,
MACHI.EGUN
goddammil.
Exactly, they'd say if you don't
like it, go open your own place, And
now I've got my own p lace and I'm
fuckin' scared to death.
The s hop looks really cool. I'm
sure you've !leen getting lots of good
respon se.
Yeah, when I first got the place, I
had one sta ti on in the back, reception
area up front, and some framed old
fI~sh, But I missed worl<ing with my
friends. Matt Rinks is here full-time
now, and Nancy takes ca re of the
walk-ins, it's cool, everybody here
gets along real ly good.
RIght, and there's stuff happening,
but you can't tattoo every single
person who wan15to get tattooed by
you, and build machines ever:t'day, and
handle the websit e, and everything
else, right? Whlch are all good
problems to have . "but" ,
We ll, what I've tried to hash out
for myself is starting next wee k I'm
tattooing three days a wee k and
that's it, Whether I'm in the shop or
not. That's a whole other story. So
three days of appointments, and at
least two days of machine building,
O,K. 'cause I was going to ask
would you even consider letting the
machine building drop? I would
hope not.
No, probably not. because
rea lly think I've got something that's
going to do good for people, that's
real ly going to make people's jobs
eaSter,
I agree with you, When did you
actually slart laking Ihls sluff apart?
As soon as I started tattooing,
When I was probably about fifteen,
when I first got tattooed, I guess,
maybe a little b it before that, a
fnend from high school and myself
kind of rigged up a little cassette
motor deal, and of course, marl<ed
each other up a little bit with some
stupid little shit, and it was just kind
of one of those things where I'd
bring kids home from school and
marl< them up every now and then,
Right around the same time my
brother, Adam, ordered some stuff
from Spaulding and Rogers, and he
was marking up some kids too, It got
to the point where when he was at
his day job, wh ich was being a brick
layer, I'd come home from school
early and 'jack his stuff and try and
put something on somebody before
he came home from work,
'Cause he'd have the high powered
Spaulding sel-up , wtJlch means you
could reaUy do 50me talloolng then.
Adam got an apprenticeship
with the same guy I later did, Close
to a year, maybe eight months
before I got there.
1i()W long did he stay there ?
He was there for about a year
and a half.
Wellthat'~ a pretty long lime . .. for
that kind of environmenl ...
Yeah, it was pretty scary. It was
definitely a lot of crazy biker stuff,
you know,
Yeah, and there's a lot of unwritten
code of the hills, or kind of code of
ethics sluff Ihal doesn't really make
any sense, And It's kind of hard,
especially !leing a punk<rock kid, to go
'you im()W wtJat? I Just don't buy Inlo
any of Ihis crap,'
Right.
But you have to . .. and you don't
im()W no !letter, and It's tattooing, and
you're over-whelmed, ,.So eventually
you got mixed up there, too, and then
}'OU got !letter equipment, obviously,
The fi rsl machine I was handed
and told 'use th is thing', was a Paul
Rogers, Mad Bee. And sure as shit
the first th ing I did was tear it apart
and break the wires in the centers of
the coils, you know.
Good thinking,
First thing, .. so the re's me try ing
to solder up into the core, I seriously
tried to do whatever I cou ld to put
this th ing back mto working order
so I could put it back in the box
and pretend I didn't touch it. So I
was g iven some stuff to use, it was
obviously his and I wasn 't to take it
with me, While I was working there,
I met a guy named T Swartz, he
was tattooing out of his house, and
he gave me a coup le of machine
frames and a couple of pairs of coils
and gave me some tips, as far as
not fuc ki ng things up, Pretty basic
stuff. He showed me how to make
needles. When I was worl<ing at

Right - exactly_
I think It just doesn't exlst - maybe we
should just start pushing It,
Right.
And lell gu)'ll - we want to call It Ihls
a nd we Wilt to callI! Ihal.
Yeah. it's definitely interesting It's
something that I've thought about
Because people don't know what you're
talking about. When you say yoke to
some one, they think you're talking
about a tLbe vise.
This whole language thing II really
a bIg deal to me, As far as )'our website
goes , i, the machine discussion area your
whole site? Or 15 It part of your slle?
That's just part of the site. The whole
site went up at the same time. The first
forum the t went up was real Simple,
there was,'t a really good structure to
It It was real loose you couldn't read
the post easily, you really had to search
through mem_ We changed over to the
new one on December 28
Kight around New Year, 2001 ,
Yeah.
5u that'. only three months allo.
Yeah, and that one has gotten, as of
today, close to 36,000 hits.
ThaI's good , I know on the internet
an)'body can have an opinion, 11'. like a
soa p box t~ey all tao .tand up on, one
a t a time, and say whatever they want -
&ome body Is In charge, a little hit like a
ring master of the whole ordeal - and I
ass ume th al'~ you, right?
SC We ll, the only kind of poSi ti on
have, In tha t sense, is making sure that
stuff doesn't get out of hand. I really
try and encourage people to bnng up
certain topics.
Do you bave a topk that you poIt for
tnem to respond lo? Or do you ju. t let it
develoj)?
I think it's a little of everythltlg A lot
of the topICS that I post are just everyday
shop stuff. Stuff that I think is funny
A lot of times somebody will post a
technical quest ion like 'why should I not
INTERVIEW
use grommets'? for example. That one
got so muc, attention. 'IoIhat helps a lot
is Aaron C01les on, and he'll break stuff
down fo r people. People have a lot of
respect for him.
Yeah It'. true.
So when he says thiS is what I use,
and thiS is Nhy, and explains It step by
step. You wouldn't beheve how many
people are like, 'Oh my God, I changed
Right, all you
over to u51rg paper towels now Instead
of grommets and my tattOOing IS so
have to do
much bette( It's unbelievable to see. to register is
I think t~e Internet Is a better venue
fur apprentl[eship than IIny uther fom) of
click register
It ever could be, or log in,
You think?
you'll pick
Yeah, Inally do, It'. kInd of crazy, but
you can pul • question oul , and you know a screen
there's II little bit of beln, anonymous, &0
you caD ask a reat dumb que. lion without
name and a
feeling too!»d.
password,
And you're getting all that input from
so many different angles Somebody can then you hit
really get a good objective response
from everybody. N ot just from ~U( "" enter.
cran ky old biker who's doing It his way.
And eve. if he'. right ninety pertent
of the time, ~e'. stili wron, ten percent
of the lime, And even hi. ninety percent
that's right - bn't the only way,
Exactly.
So I think It'. really an limning thing,
If &Ornebod)' want. to get on your sit e ...
they've got to be regl.tered . .. rlaht?
To actu~lIy post Anybody can get on
and read the posts.
Yeah, wbkh I've dOlle ,
SC Right, aU you have to do to register
is click register or log In, you'll pick
a screen name and a password, then
you hit enter. It sends you an e-mail to
confirm, you respond to the e-mail and
that activa tes your account Tha t's all It
is, really, JUs: reglstenng
Does It ro.t an)1hing?
SC It doesll't cost anything to register -
It's a tota ll y free thing I just do It because
it's fun. It generates a lot of interest
MACH EGUN

the shop we used pre-mades so when
he came along he was like 'what ale
you doIng?! You gotta build your own
needles, you gotta make mags' - he kind
of set me straIght, In that regard. Then
I left there, and went, well, I tattooed
out of my apartment A lot of the early
Insp'r.3t1on fO( pu ttll'lg machines together
came from Tom Beasley
Yeah, he Jusl had that thin g about
tlnkertng _ and worklng l+i th machln e. _
Righ t, my brother worked fo r him
for a while, an d while my b rother was
there, I'd go to th e shop. Wh en I was
tattoOing ou t of my apa rt ment, th ey
let me use their autoclave-wh ile I was
waIting for the 'clave to run I sure as
hell wasn't sltt ln' on my hands-I was
digging through his shit, you know. and
I went and got tattooed by him - and
watched Intently every little thing that
he dId. He spent a lot o f time WIth Paul
Rogers, and pIcked up a lot of stuff- not
that Paul Rogers IS the end-all, but I
think he was one of the first guys that
really started to delve Into the real
functIon of the machIne. And I think
it's gOing the dlrectlon he would have
wanted it to go.
Ir. funny, people really romantklz.e this
whole old -school thing.
It's like all these guys tha t are just so
stuck on doIng tradItIona l tattoos-and
you would thmk that they're trying to
stay true to whatever-bu t Sailor Jerry, for
example, was all abou t moving forward.
and progressing. These people are Just
trying to repl Icate what he was doing in
1965.
Or Ihelr perceptlun uf what he WM
dulng In 1965.,. 1f he WIUIlhem.
It's not doIng hIm or them any justice
- it's really 9O'ng agaInst what all that was
about I think what Aaron is doIng is way
more along the lines of what these guys
would have expected
Yeah, they " "ere Just 60lng ,,·halevar
they WII ld do.
There was a reaSOf'l these guys weren't
uSIng hot pink pigment. It was because
they dIdn't have it So, what happened
J
INTERVIEW
when I left the fi~t shop. the guy took all
my equipment that I had managed to get,
I had bought a couple of machInes and a
bunch of tubes. He knew he was gettIng
nd of me, but I didn't know he knew I had
some money saved. and It was lIke, 'hey,
you need to get your own place, you
need to get a new car, you need to buy
th,S eguipment" .. .so he completely made
me exhaust all my savIngs .and then
fired me, changed the locks on the shop,
an d kept all my stuff
U's amazing how th ey do it. And 11'8 so A lot of
lame, Irs JUIlihe l ame, all th e tJm e,
Yeah, some old school sh it. I got the early
lucky and my friend Pee Wee, who
also apprentIced at the same place-he
inspiration
had left already-he went to go work
at Dragon Moon, WIth my brother. He
for putting
gave me a couple of Philadelph,a Eddie's machines
machines. Some of the early United stuff,
the real shorty machlnes- he gave me together
a couple o f those to use, and a power
supply. Mid< Beasley set me up WIth a came from
Job at Tattoos by Lou In M ,amI. I drove
down to South Beach, and Lou took a
Tom Beasley.
look at the machines and was Ioke, 'what
the?? Vllhat're you do,n? Let me re-
spring these.' I was, wha t do you mean
re-Spflng them?
Uke ","hal are )'OU lalklng about?
So he comes back the ne)(\ day, and
he gi ves me my machones ... and they
each have two fron t springs on them, of
like real th in, like 13 gauge stock. One
was a little shorter than the other, you
know what I'm talking abou t?
Yeah 1 knuw.
And I thought they ran like crap. I
couldn·t believe wha t he handed me
back. But it was my first exposure to
somebody not USIng O-nngs. So tha t
was thaI. I couldn·t hang on M,am,-I
stayed there for like ten days and came
right back to BaltImore. Then I drove
up to New York to try and get a job
WIth Bruce Bart, up in Hunter MountaIn.
Tha t dIdn't won. out, It was Just too faf,
I didn't want to be away from Baillmore
So I Cilme back and got a Job In a total
ghetto shop.
Wbal )"ear are we talkin g about now?
MACHINEGUN
INTERVIEW
March of '95. I stayed there
until September of '96, \oVhile I was
there, this guy, Danny Dflngenberg
had Just started making coils and
stuff. I managed to get a hold
of a couple of pairs of his coils
Somewhere along the line, I'd
gotten a couple o f National Delu)te
frames, and I pot them together
with his coils_ Gradually I figured
out that I could buy equipment to
cut and punch my own springs, and
I bought a roll of feeler gauge stock
and started putting these Jonesy
frames together Matt Rinks and
Brad y Duncan got some from me,
and Ti m Hoyer bough t one from
me a long time ago. People that I
knew were getting them from me,
The only re al difference that I was
do ing between liner and shader
was I'd bend the front spring up
higher to make it a liner, and make
Jonesy Roundbock ,t a little stiffer. When I was selling
these things I showed one to Mike
Malone, and he's like 'what is thiS?'
You know, it could have been either
a liner or shader. Kind of middle of
the road. So ... back to the drawmg
board. So I called him up and he's
like 'Look, I'm gomg to lay It oul
for you: So he tells me, like look,
this is the d ifference. This is why a
shader runs the way 1\ does, and he
got into how thick the pigment IS,
compared to regular black outline
pigment, and the speedier outliner
is tha t way for a reason. Your shader
has to be slow and punchy to
push tha t pigment because the
pigment can't keep up With the
needles if they' re going too fast ,
and YOU' re making all that blood.
and all those holes, and no pigment
Joncsy Squarcback is going in. So t hen It was like, O.K.
how do I make It go slower? It
was an obvious thing_ increase the
distance between the armature bar
and the spring shelf. Make a longer
front spring that has a little more
give to It ... and It seemed really
obvious to me
Were you altering the aesttletlc of
the frames - did that even enter your
conKiousnus, did you even care?
MAOIINE6UN
Well, when t got those brass
National frames, they're a bit
square".1 was taking them to a
belt sander; and I was gnnding off
all the hard edges, making it look
like a rolJnd-back. Filing the shit
out of them-I'd buff 'em real nice,
sometimes putting some patina
chemical on there, and engraving
my name real fant)' on ~hem
See, well thaI'. good ... there
wa!I &Orne0' that going on, too. Not
Just mechanical.
Right, it was probably more
aesthetic than mechanica L I guess
one of the ma in th ings I was doing,
only because I had seen it on Paul
Roger5 machines, was I had some
base plates made with the tube
crusher collet, and I was cutting the
chudc off the Jonesys.
Right out oflhe box - brand new?
Yep Nothing wrong with them,
no repair needed - just cut it off It
was because I was trying to replicate
the Paul Rogers machines that I'd
seen.
Buill', a pretty btl change 10
whack off part of ttle frame, It reaJly Is.
Yeah, and most kids my age who
were not in tattooing all that long
hadn't seen that much. They were
usmg a fight out of the box Dennis
Dwyer machme or a Spauldmg
mach ine or someth ing like that.
Danny's coils were rea ll y neat, they
h"d that cool c-c lip thing on top
holdmg the washer5 on there- those
machmes were kind of gimmicky
you know.
Bullhat'. 0,1(, because a lot of
that 11 aestheti c, and guys would
think, 'wow thl. looks cool.'
Right, they don't have to use that
chrome mad1ine with the Spaulding-
spar1c1y bllJe coils With the tiny, tiny
little capacitor.
00 you _t1n~ II(lW think you'd
like to make a macbine thaI'. different,
or have you JUlt got a .t)1e In mind,
aDd )'UtI like how illooks.

Well, the frames that I had cast are the
same design as the Johnny Walker frame,
which ended up beIng the Spaulding
Supreme-It's the same frame, wJthOlJt
the koIe In the SIde It's a lot thicker, a lot
heavier frame, and It'S made of iron, I've
got some brass ones, too.
I! would be about the same size, then as
the one. Mkkey Sharp~ 800 Mickey 8 ~r.:
making, The same bulc frame style, 8 little
bigger than the Supreme.
Actually pretty much the same size as
the Supreme and pretty much the same
geometry. I real ly wanted some of the
older castings when I dId the first run, but
those old castings were impossIble to get.
I only did a few of t1em because I wanted
some for myself, and for my friends. More
and more peopie kept asking for them,
and now I'm up to my elbows in it.
And once laaln.II'.like no mailer wIllch
direction )'011 tum, )..u just end up wiler.:
the trade seem. 10 t.lnk II "''IIIlIJi)'Oll.
Exactly-the !hng WIth the machines
is I don', advertise \'1em-1 mean-I've got
my little thIng on ttle web, but I don't do
any magalIne advertJsing with it. I want
them to be avail3:lle, but I don't want
them to be in evef)Ofle's face.
When you tel out to cast the frame, you
went to I n original bule desl(n. Ther.: ~
• number of frameS In talloolng that have
been arouoo since the beglnnlni. I don't
think many IU)'J know abClulthem, ""lIkh is
kind or. ,hame. What would you Illy would
be the four or five mOll importanl frames?
Oh man ... the Jonesy, the Johnny
Walker. Ernie Carafa did a frame,
somebody told me it was a Waters
design ... real square, upright leans back
slightly, and there's a slot at the top of the
upright -so there's a little dis!anl;e for the
top binding post to move. This frame was
particularly a paIn i, the ass because the
rubber bands dick't make contact WIth
the needle bar un ess you routed them
behInd the Upright.
II's. Gnldeline !lachine, IIOkIlhrough
Guideline like In '82 or 81?
The Bulldog thInk was important
because It was one of the first frames that
was made speofically to be th,S design
INTERVIEW
for this purpose. And I thmk there have
been very few frames that were Just for a
specmc thing - I think that was definItely a
technical pwotal point_
So that tltves us foor. These &r.: alJ
mechanical thlnlls - rould)'oo lell me wIlat
do you Ihlnk I. the _ I beautiful frame
ever,)nst to look al7 ... Yoo could tell me a
car, I'm 5~.
'32 Ford - .......at is the '32 Ford of
frames? I don't know.
I want to know.
Those Paul Rogers, the V frames .
Doe5it go on your Iill then?
SC Yeah, the thIng is, though, I thInk that
that's another one of those frames that's
middle of the rood. I don't think tha t Seth Ciferri, Cultom Mochine
frame had a speak functIon in mind
Can)'Oll take lhat V frame and f\.Ilt?
Yeah.
The problem In'tjust the frame, II's
the Innalure tnal's ln It,
Ex.act:Iy. That's the thing where I've
been compensatillQ At this point WIth
the machines I have to figure OIJt what
I'm gOIng to do. One of the things that
I'm really concerned WIth is makIng the
machines available, but at the same tome
making them reall) good uke look at the
Sharpz scenario, the more he makes, the Seth Ciforri, Custom Machine
worse they are ... ax! I don't want to get
to that point-I want people to a~ays be
ab le to get good ones from me.
What if .5Omebo4y came to you. and
said - 'Seth, don'l be 5lUllld - you could
make a Jot of mODe)!; all yon have to do Is
gIwl me the rights to this. nisei up the
little factory - we'U knock out Ihounnd& or
the$C thlllfs - well run full paae ads - we11
be ridJ.'
Fuck that. I'd never do that
MACHINEGUN
r-----------------------------------------------------------

Machine Parts r

................... _._._._ ....... _._._ .. . ................. _._._._ ...... .. ......... _. . . . . . . . . .

0 0 @
0 @ @
0 @ @
CD @ @
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0 <9 @
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DATE: NAJ,lE:
,L _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ __ •
.--------------------------------- ------------ -----------,
An important part of discussion is the ability to understand one another. In an attempt to get us speaking
the same language, please fill in the blanks, identifying the various parts of the tattoo machine, using
the words you usually use to identify them. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer. When you
are done, please fax to 613.384.9583, mail to 692 McKay St. Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7M 7G2 o r
email info@machinegunmagazine.com.

DAT E, APRIL 2001 DAT E, 4/21/01 DAT E' MAY 2001

, BILL BAKER !Am;" SETH B. ClFERRI !AIlE" CHUCK ELDRIDGE

(0 TOP BINDING POST (0 fRONT BINDING POST (0 TOP BINDING POST

o CONTACT SCREW o(2) CONTACT SCREW o(2) CONTACT SCREW

CD SET SCREW SETSCREW SET SCREW

(0 FRONT SPRING CD FRONT SPRING CD FRONT SPRING
o BACK SPRING o BACK SPRING o BACK SPRING

CD SPRING SADDLE CD SPRING SHELf CD SPRING MOUNT

(2) BACK BINDING POST o REAR BINDING POST o BACK BINDING POST

CD FRAME CD fRAME o fRAME

CD CAPACITOR CD CAPACITOR CD CAPACITOR

e@ BACK COIL
YOKE
e@ BACK COIL
YOKE
@ BACK COIL
@ YOKE
@ FRONT COIL @ fRONT COIL @ fRONT COIL
@ COIL SHIM @ COIL SHIM @ COIL SHIM
@ fRAME BASE @ COIL SHELf @ fRAME BASE
@ TUBE VISE @ TUBE VISE @ TUBE VISE
@ fRAME UPRIGHT @ UPRIGHT (fRAME) @ fRAME UPRIGHT
@ COIL CORE @ COIL CORE @ COIL CORE
@ ARMATURE PIN @ NIPPLE @ ARMATURE PIN
@) ARMATURE BAR @ ARMATURE BAR @ ARMATURE BAR
@ CONTACT POINT @ CONTACT POINT @ CONTACT POINT
@ FORWARD @ fORWARD @ FORWARD
@ BACK @ BACK @ BACK
@ UP @ UP @ UP
@ DOWN @ DOWN @ DOWN
 READERS' MACHINES

But BaJurs
I~~I<>:N""
I>O~~~~
A..C I1\T~
IT'S A SPAULDING SUPREME THAT I BOUGHT NEW
IN 1982. I've always used It ilS a liner. In 1988 I replaced
the frame with the frame from another Supre me that I
had, bu t wasn't using. The newer frame has a swing-
gal e t ube vise. The tube vise of the orig inal frame had
finally become unlixable. I didn't really change much
on the machine after that lor a long time. Occasionally
I'd monkey around Wi th I he springs -and I worked on
the tube vise, fe-drilled and tapped It In the earl y 90's,
Mostly the machine doesn't give me any trou ble and I
use It every day. In 1997, when we first developed the
meter at Eikon, I completely rebuilt this machine ... took
It all apart-restyled the frame, stripped off all the

chrome, fe-did the wiring and heat-shrink. Worked on

it for about a week-got it looking more or less how It
does now. and got it running be tter than it ever had
In February of 2000, we put a prototype Tru.Springl"
armature bar and springs on thIS machine. That got
changed to a production armature during the summer,
and the machine hasn't been changed since. The Tru-
Spring'" bar got the speed up to about 160, wh ich I like
better, _before I cou ldn't get the speed over 150. W,th
a lube and 3 needle liner it now runs about 135, whICh
works pretty good for me. I mean, mostly I can follow a
stencil, anyhow. I've been using thIS machine for almost
20 years and during that time I know I've ou tlined over a
million dollars wor th of tattooing WI th it.

MACHINKUN
READERS' MACIiINES

WHEN WE ASKED CRAIG DRISCOLL A .K.A .

5/ 2 TA12 TO SEND US SOME PHOTOS AND
SUPPORT TeXT OF THE MACHINES HE' S
CURRENTLY RUNNING , WE WEREN'T REAllY
READY FOR WHAT'S VISIBLE PAST THE A TO
Z OF 5/ 2 TATTOOING. Craig has always been a
careful machine blJilder with a neat and tidy color
coordinated style. Still obviously meticulous, he's left
the painted frames and matching wires back in the
90's. His machines have always run in a no-nonsense
way. Now they've got that no-nonsense look. ~The
first machll1es I had were Supremes ordered from
Spaulding and Rogers as a kit, unassembled. How
hard could they be to put together? Once I got
down to it I thought it was easy, once done, they
worked. Now a 'working" machine is a lot different
from 11 urunning" machine. Without proper training
and e)(perience anyone WIll learn this the hard way,
on former friends." Craig's been setting up good
running and good looking machines for himself. and
a lot of other tattooers since 1997. Over the years
he's developed some ideas and rules that he applies
to all the machines he sets. First of all, no chrome.
Ne)(t, no dip-cord, he switches things over to RCA
plugs and he's gone as far as to completely remove
the rear binding post and mount. There will be
absolutely no glitter tape on the coils of a machine
Craig set up. lastly, but maybe most importantly,

No"",," a n"",,"or~g·" mn.a.c.h..i~e is a Iot d.ilfere~t f:ro.-n.. a

~6r'U.n.n..ing"· :rn..a.ch.ine. """i"t;ho-ut proper t:ra~g a.n.d..
e:x.pe:ri.e~ce anyo~e ~ learn thia the h.ard.. "",,"ay.
o~ fo:r:rn..er friends. he hand cuts the springs for any machine he's
settIng up. "My favorite machine is a J,m Dandy
that was given to me for a tattoo. The guy hated
the machine because he couldn't get It working
properly. I gave it ali the treatments, dechrorn ing
the fra me, filed down the edges, rounding out the
angles. I cut a toonie to mount th e RCA plug on the
spring shelf, cut 18 gauge stock for front and back
springs bending them oh so much for th e ideal
gap and stroke. Got rid of the rear binding post ,
replaced all the screws and bolts with matte black
he)( screws, wIres and COIls were ali fitted WIth heat
shrink. I then tuned it up to working speed and threw
It on the Eikon meter to do the final adjustments to
the gap, filed to a point, meeting the front spring
tIp perfectly. She runs at 110 Hz., 40% duty cycle,
9.5 volts WIth no load, and looks good. Gotta look
good too!" Sure, CraIg makes It look easy, bu t he
says "making a good looking machine is easy. But
don't forget to always be 100klOg good whIle doing
It the fight way."

MACHINEGUN
 READERS' MACIIINES

AFTER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF TATTOOING IN

MONTREAL, KEITH STEWART KNOWS WHERE
HIS PRIORITIES LIE. He doesn't spend his t ime
wor king on machines-he spends his time doing
SINCE 1976 tattoos. After all, that's what tattooe rs get paid for,
isn't it? "I don't work on my own mach ines _I buy the
machine-it works good- I don't touch it," Almost no one who tattooed through the early nineti es got away without
going to a few conventions and buying at least one Mickey Sharpz machine. Over the years, Ke ith has bought a lot of
machines. "That original Mickey Sharpz I bought at a convention in 1992. I did a lot of tattooing with that machine,
and not just out-line, I'd co lor them in with it, too." For the past t hree or four yea rs the only machines Keith has been
using have been hand-built by fellow Canadian o ld-timer, Mack Bregg. Kei th can't say enough good th ings about
Mack's machines. "A lot of the new companies have picked up on a lot of his stuff, copied th e t hings that M ack is
doing here." The Mack machines are of the super-adjustable, super-mach ined va riety. Lots of t ricky mill-work and
·0· rings. A far cry from the first machine Keit h bought from an ad in Easyriders M agazine in 1976. A lot of people
tattooing today weren't even born then. "I usually have about nineteen machines-I keep the ones I really like, but I've
sold a few, or I g ive them as gifts."

High-Mileage Mickey Sharpz Big Brass Mack Machine

 There were two major
problems with what we were doing
back then. We hadn't built the first
meter yet, so I couldn't read the
speed of my machine. I couldn't
tell how most of the things I was
doing to my machine affected it. I
was guessing what I was doing. Worse
than that, we really only had a couple of unknown
spring gauges to work with. Once we started using feeler
gauge stock to make springs, we could create an exact spring
force. If we needed more force, we would cut another spring out of
heavier gauge stock. If we needed less force, we'd make a spring out of
lighter gauge stock.
You need to choose the right combination of front and back springs to get
a machine running right. If you follow some basic rules, you will be able to
change how your machine runs. More importantly, you will understand how to
get your machine to run the way you want it to.
IIOW TO

ToolI and lDiUeriail needed

FEELER GAUGE STOCK variou3 guuges
.0 ....... e and In••all .prinll'

METAL SHEARSjor ell/ling/eelcr gauge sloel..

PU NCH SET for plwcilillg holes in feeler gauge stock
RULER A N D SCRIBEjor marking mCflsuremcn/s Q/lfeeler guuge stQ{'k
HEX KEY SET, SCREWDRI VER
Jar lig/llening and Ioost'ni,l!! screws Ilml rllOI1II1 springs 011 the machine
VISEfor bCfldillg SIJriligs
METER 10 fine tUlle lIIuc/rinc speed UIU/ com pure olle spring 10 flllOther

Ta••oo l'IIa~hine Sprint! Da.i~.

The SPRINGS on a machine control:
• VOLTAGE the machine requires
• SPEED of the machine
• LENGTH of stroke on the machine
FRONT SPRING determines machine speed.
• HARDER FRONT SPRING. Machine will run faster.
• SOFTER FRONT SPRING. Machine will run slower.
BACK SPRING provides the force that puts compression on the front spring.
SPRING FORCE is determined by these factors:
• LENGTH OF SPRING, Longer spring acts softer, shorter spring acts harder.
• WIDTH OF SPRING, Wider spring clcts harder, ncllTower spring acts softer,
• GAUGE OF SPRING. Heavier gauge is harder, lighter gauge is softer.
• ANGLE OF DEFLECTION. Greater angle of deflection on back spring creates more force.

MACHINEGUN
 IIOW TO

In most cases the springs on a

machine are t he correct lengt h.
Back spring length is critical. If it
is too short or too long the needle
bar will not run down the center
of the tube.
• •
Make measurements from machine
before removing old springs.
1. Measure the distance from the
center of t he screw on the armature
bar, to the center of the screw on
the spring shelf. or saddle of the
frame.
, •I
- :-E - --r ,n ~
2.Using t he d iagram or orig inal
spring as a guide. mark spring
I "j ~ * ,
stock with a scribe. Showing
overa ll length, placement of holes

•
to be punched, and where the
spring will be bent. It is ve ry
important to mark th e gauge of
t he spring stock somewhere on
t he spring, fo r future reference.
3.Using shears cut spring stock to
correct le ngth.
For front spring-once length, bend,
hole p lacement, and gauge for front
spring have been marked, cut fron t
spring to length.
4. Mark spring stock with a scribe
showing taper of front spring.
Mark this on both sides of the
spring stock.
S.Taper must be cut f rom narrow end
of the spring, towards t he back of •
the spring.
6. Cut one side, th en t urn spring over
to cut the other.
7. Punch holes in spring st ock where
marked.
8. Put spring in vise, lining up bend
mark w ith t he jaws of the vise.
9. Slowly, with even pressure bend
spring. Check angle of bend with
diagram or origina l spring. •
Insta ll new springs ont o machine,
with front spring over back spring, on
armat ure bar.

MACHINEGUN
I flOW TO

o
-
• mark spring stock with a s cribe

MAOIINEGUN
 !lOW TO

MACHINEIiUN
 I)IU~VI~N'I'ION Ol~

IN '1'1\,I"I'(HnN(;

TATIOOING CAN BE A SERIOUS HEALTH RlSK TO THE TAlTOO[R, THE CLIENT, AS WEll. AS EVERY PERSON
WHO ENTERS A TAlTOO SIIOP. Tattooists have an e lhiuJ, if nOllegal responsibility 10 see that proper procedures
are In place that ensure exposure to health risks are minimized. Many Individuals carry blood borne infections,
withO\.lt displaying recognizable symptoms of illness. Any tattoo shop Is open to contact with a variety 01 viral and
bacterial Infections. The application of protective, preventive procedures Is needed at all limes, for every client,
without exception.

Cross-contaminatlon refers to the unintentional transmission of Infectlon from person to object. then from
the contaminated objecllO another person. In a tattoo shop. this most common ly occu rs In the work area,
or Is II result of Improper IHocedure during the cleaning and sterilizing of contaminated Instruments.

Hepatitis viruses can remain active on a surface for a period of days to weeks, depending on the environmental
conditions. A contaminated object. surface, or instrument can become a common link between two or more
people, and transmission of infection can occur from client to client. The posslbillty of client to staff, and
staff to client transmission must also be considered. If correc t procedures are established and maintained,
the possibility of disease transmission can be minimized.

ZONES

Infection control requires that a shop environment is considered In terms of separate areas or zones.
The zones are established by usage-reception area, work area, cleaning area, and washroom. The zones

I should be designated as clean or con taminated. The Integr ity of these zones, once established, must not
be compromised .

MACIIINEGUN

'I'A'I"I'OOIS'I'S IIAVll AN 11'I'III(;U, II' NO'I' UlIiAI,
IUlSI'ONSIIIIU'I'Y '1'0 Sllll 'I'IIA'I' l'UOI'IlU l'IUl(;l!InJUllS
AUtl IN l'IA(;ll 'I'IIAT IlNSIJIUl IlXl'OSIJIUl '1'0 IIIlUTII
IUSI.S AUll )IINUIIZllI).
A contaminated zone is an area in whkh
there has been any exposure of bodily fluids,
especially blood. Overs pray created during
the tattooing procedure may contain mIcro-
organisms which can settle and survive on
surfaces, establishing <In area as contaminated.
Any person entering an area which is potentially
contaminated must be aware of this fact or
access to this Mea should be restricted.
An area in which any possible exposure to
contaminants has been eliminated is a clean
zone, this area can be maintained through
disinfection and strict adherence to procedure.
Contaminated zones in a shop should be
contained. and separated as much as possible
from the rest of the shop. This area should
not be accessible to anyone, except staff and
the client being tattooed. Any person with an
uncovered, fsresh tattoo, should not be allowed
outside the designated contaminated zone. The
tattooist should never leave the work area with
contaminated gloves on.
The reception area of a shop should be
established and maintained as a clean zone.
The area where instruments are cleaned
prior to sterilization must be considered a
contaminated area. There should be no l)ublic
access to this area.
The area in which tattooing is done should be
considered contaminated as soon as the session
begins. Before the next client enters this area it
must be returned to a safe. clean condition. The
preparation of the tattooing area Is disinfectlon
after the previous appointment. During the
tattooing procedure <lny surface or object in the
room that the tattooing is being done in may
become contaminated. The tattooing area must
be e<lsily cleaned. Waste receptacles should
h<lve a large opening without a lid. Plastic bags
should be a heavy gauge which will not easily
SIIOP SPACE
tear or puncture. Materials that will be needed
during the tattooing procedure should be laid
out for each session. They should be easily
accessible to <lvoid unnecessary hand contact
and consequent contamination of counter
surfaces, drawer handles, and cabinet knobs.
A disposable cup of water should be used to
rinse the machine tube during the procedure,
as sinks are problematic due to the difficulty in
re-establishing cleanliness.
DISPOSABLE IT E MS
Disposable items should be used wherever
possible. Disposable caps should be used for
pigment. Disposable ra20rs should be used once
only, then discarded. Items that will be re-used,
such as tubes and needle bars. should be made
of st<linless steel and sterilized after each use.
NON.DISPOSABLE ITEMS
Items that are not disposable, and cannot be
sterilized must be covered with a disposable
plastic barrier, to prevent contamination
from reaching surfaces. Anything that wi ll be
touched by the tattooe r during the tatlooing
procedure must be covered with plastic bags,
such as, spray bottles. clip cords, and tattoo
machines. PlasUc backed napkins should be
u:;ed to create a disposable work surface. When
removing plastic barriers, care must be taken
not to contaminate the area it was covering.
SURFACES AND OBJECTS
Objects and surfal.:es In the tattooing work area
that are either not disposed of, sterilized after
one use, or have not been covered, must be
brought to a high level of disinfection. Efficient
chemical disinfection requires exposure to the
disinfectant for a signilil.:ant amount of time, for
many products it is as much as twenty minutes.
MACHINEGUN
SHOP SPACE

1. Surl a Ce Iiisinlect a nt
2 . Wa s h Bottle Ba g
3 . Wa s h Bottle . Reduces a erosol a ssocia ted wit h s p r a y bo tt le .
4. 1/2 Ta ck SUrl a ce Ba rrier. ~or a n y sur1 8 ce .
5. Steriliz at ion Pouch wit h indic at or . Dat ed with one
instrument in e a ch pouch .
6. Dispos a ble Pigmen t Ca p
7. Clipcord Ba g
8 . Lenta l Bib . :Jisp os ab le surfa ce ba rrier .
9. ll a chine Ba g .

MACHIIIEGUH
 ThIs Is dlfflcult In a busy shop environment, where clients are seen
consecu tively In the same work area. [xtensive use of disposable
plas ti c barriers, such as dental bibs, will reduce the need for c hemical
disinfection of th e work area between clients. Counters and tabl eto l)S
that have not been cove red have been exposed to airborne particles
which may contain contami nants. These areas must be wiped down
with detergent germ icide, and left to air dry between appointments.

T he task of c hoosing an appropriate product for cleaning and

disinfection of Items such as tabl es, chairs. coun ter tops and floor s ca n
be ver y confusing. Some time must be spent becoming knowledgeable
abou t the available produc ts. and what i s needed lor the shOI).

~ f1ve spec.lilc questions should be asked about any produc t under

consideration:
• Wha t are the recommended uses of the product?
• What Is the active antimicrobial ingr edient?
• How is the IHoduct used?
• Will the l)fod uct damage surfaces or equipment?
• What is th e p roduct's toxlcity?~ I

Ask fo r documentation on produ cts. If a sales represen tative is unable

to p rovid e technical information about their product, speak to someone
wh o can. If th e supplier seems incapable of providing subs tantIal data,
look elsewhere for another product.

II' C;OIUUl(;'I' l'IUK;llnUIlI,S AIlI, I,S'I'AIIUSlIIln ANn

MAIN'I'AINlln. 'I'DE I'OSSIIIIU'I'Y 01' mSIlASI, '1'llANS)IISSION
CAN liE )IINUIIZlln.
New l:mxlucts for cleaning and d isinfection appear on the market cons tantly. liowever, the
active ingred ient used in these products is generally the same as contaIned In many older
products. It s hould be an active antimicrobial agent. 11 you are unC<!rt a in about a d is infectio n
product, o r I)rocess. coos ult the municipal health depart ment. Health department persoonel
have access to inlo rmatioo that makes them a valuable source of assistance. TIley should no t
be regarded with fear o r suspicion.

When a tattooing sessioo is completed, the instruments that are to be sterilized mu,<;t be taken
to an are,l designated for cleaning con taminated instruments prior to sterilizati on. Thorough
I)re-cleanlng to physically remove all mailer is mandatory prior to sterlllzatlon. A.~ It Is nearly
Impossible to clean the small spaces between needles In multIple needle configuration s,
re-use Is strongly discouraged. Any object to be sterlll zed must be physically clean prior to
sterIli zation. Any l)1lrtlcles left on the instruments can Impair the sterilization process.

Ultrasonic cleaning is not a substitute for sterilization. It should be consIde red as a cleaning
process only. Ultrasonic cleaning is p referred over manual cleanI ng, fo r It has more effi cient
penetratlon into the small spaces of tubes. A major concern Is the ri sk of nIcks o r cu ts by
anyone scrubbing the Instruments by hand, as well as exposure to Over-Sl)ray and splatter.
These should be considered as common potentials for CTOSS<ontamination.

Items should be packaged and sealed in autoclave bags. and dated prlor to sterilization. Care
should be taken that the llac kages are completely dry before they are stored. "The maxi mum
time a sterlllzed pack can be stored is debatable. Parler/ plasllc l:leel pouches are said to be
safe fo r sIx to twelve months. Contamination is event-related, not ti me-rela ted. The cond itions
of stor aKe and the amount of handling to which the llacks are subjected are more important
determ inants of con tamination . Sterile packs should be kept o n closed shel ves away from
moistu re o r I)()ssible con tamination, and hand led as lillIe as possible I)rior 10 use." 2

MAOfIMEIUM
SilOP SPACE

IIANlIlI'ASIIING IU,~IAINS ONE 01' Hili

sun'u,s'I'. ANII )IOS'I' un'on'I'AN'I' )llIANS 01'
l'nEvt:N'rlN(; (; nOSS-foN1'A~nNA'I'ION.

The use 01 gloves is [lot a substitute for hand washing. Hand washing remains one of the
simplest. and mosl important means of preventing crosS-<Olltaminalloll. Hands should
be washed with soap and water as soon as gloves are removed.

lW.E.AN8 OF' STE RIL.IZATION

Effective methods for sterilization are relatively limited . There <I re live methods
commonly used to sterilize instruments: Autoclaves (steam under pressure), Dr y Heal
Ster ilizers (hot air oven). Chemical Ste r ilization (Gluteraldehyde). Chemical Va\XlU r, and
Ethylene Oxide Gas.
The most suitable sterilization system Is determined by the tolerances of the instruments
being sterilized. An autoclave remains the easiest and mos t appropriate method of
sterilizatIon available lor tattooing because the Ins truments being s terilized can withstand
high temperature and steam under pressure.
An autoclave accomplishes s te rilization III much less time than a dry heat sterilizer can.
Sterilization of unwrapped instruments takes 20 minutes at 126' C (260 F), and 30 minutes
at 126'C (260'f) for wrapped lnstruments. J An autoclave raises the boiling point of water
to 121 C (2SO-f) by Increasing the air l)reSsure by olle atmosphere (15 psi or 103.4 KPA).·
Autoclaves use dis tilled water to prevent scale del)()sition on Ins trume nts.
Dry heat sterililatlon is used mainly fo r mate rials that cannot be sterilized safely with
steam under pressure, e ither because of the pressure o r the steam. Dry heat would
take one ho ur at 170 C (340 f). or two hours at 160 C (320 F).s TIming mus t s tart when
the entire contents of the sterilizer has reached the peak temperature needed for that
partic ular load. Some wrapping materials are Intolerant of dry heat, which complicates
storage of dry heal processed Instruments.
Chemical sterililatlon has many Umi tations, and should only be used for Instruments that
are intolerant of heat. Gluteraldehyde products are the only chemicals that are sufficiently
sporicidal to accomplish sterilization. u:posure time is long (6 - 10 hours). During Ihis
period 01 immersion. no other Ins truments may be added o r removed from the bath. as t his
Interrupts the ]HOCess. Because of toxicity. gluteraldehyde baths must be covered and left
in areas with good ventilation. Glutaraldehyde mus t be thoroughly rinsed off instruments
with sterile wate r before they are used.
Chemical vapour sterilization uses a combi nation of alcohols, formaldehyde, ketone,
water and acetone. heated under pressure to produce a s le rllant gas. Temperatu res used
are 260 F - 270 F ( 126 C - 132 C) at 20 10 40 pounds pressure. It requ ires 20 mInutes at
temperature. and adequate ven tila tion Is required.
Ethylene Oxide Vapour In Chamber - lime duration of cycle varies by temperature
and concentration 01 gas. Relat ively low operating temperature means ethylene oxide
sterilization is s uitable for re latively heat-sensitive ilems. Adequate ventilation is requ ired
and exhaust of ventilation must be controlled. An indicator strip or tape shou ld be
included on each sterilizer bag. Most sterilizing bags or pouches have a process indicator
on them. A process Indicator is printed with an ink that changes colour wi th eXI)()SUre to

MACHINE6UII
 heat. steam o r chemical vapour. A colour change indicates that a pouch
has been processed. but it 15 IIOt proof of proper sterili za\lon.
A sterilizer should be tt!sted at least monthly to ensure that it is
functioning properly. Biological monitors or spore tests are small
strips of paper, or ampules cont aininl( living non-pathogenic resistant
spores. The b io logical monitor s are placed in hard to reach areas of
the sterili zer, and then cu ltured. If the spores have been sterilized they
will not germinate. Some biological monitor s must be returned to the
company for culturing. and some come with a colour indica tor t hat
Indicates prol>e:r steriliZation.
S H A R PS D I SPOS A.lL
Needle configurations should be discarded directly into a sharps
container. KSharps containers must be disposed of by one o f the
following methods:
• removed by a licensed biomedical waste management company.
• tilkf'n to a hospital or laborator y which will ensure prope r
dlsl>05al.
• autoc1aved and disposed of with general wast es.~ 6 BIBLiOGRAPIIY
'\lVAJi8T E D I S P O S A L
The disl>osal of j>otenUally cont aminat ed waste is generally legislated
municipally. Local health departments can provide informa tion about
a tattOOist's responsibility as it pertains to waste disposal.
Garbage containers should be lined w ith heavy gauge garbage bags.
Never al10w bags to overfill. 00 not place hard or heavy objects In
bags whi ch c ould cause potent ial tears or punctures. Keep waste
from contaminated areas out of clean areas. In all areas bags should
be sealed, Ihen prom ptly removed. Waste collection receptacles and
dumpsters should be kept locked awaiting collection.
Al though waste Ilroduced during the tattOOing process should be
considered con taminat ed, it does flot fall within the scope of regulated
hazardous was te. The Bloodborne Pathogens Standard uses the term.
"regulated waste: to r efer to th e followi ng categories of was te which
require sl>eclaJ handling at a minimum;
• ~lIquld o r semi-liquid blood or other poten tially infectious
mater ials;
• items contamina ted with blood or other potentially infectious
materia l and which would release these subs tances In a liquid or
semi-liquid stat e If compressed:
• items that are caked with dried blood o r other potentially
Infectious materi al and are c3 1>able of releasing th ese materials
dur ing handling:
• contaminated sharps; and
• pathological and microbiological wastes containing blood or
K
o ther po ten t ially infecllous nlaterial. 7
To ensure that ever yone involved in the tattOOing process Is safe from
exposure to infection through cross-con taminalion. it is important
to follow proper method s of cleani ng, disin fec tion and steriliza tio n .
Adequa te levels o f cleaning, disinfection. and ste rili za ti on can be
achieved quite efficiently and cost-effectively.
ENDNOTES
I £lll.lbelh lie. ...,.,. PhO, aM ThomN louie. MO.
I1tCPC. "S!erillulion aM Ollinkruon: llelpful Hinb
In 0!rKf; I'I'ICI~· n... CllW!yg Jouma] a ()l!:.
(1",,).p.8O.
z~ C tlou .......... MO, CCf'P "The ",-,,~ ... or
en. tnlKl_ In the I'hrsidUli 0IIItt. - C..uniUN
onmu M~~hMnWww~O*#or
.,
PIgWriw IDUWVCMIU' Briljsh D+uUN ( 1992).
3 I:InmmorId. p. t.
• OrullllnOlld. ~ 5.
5 I)rulMlOlld, p. 8.
61)rullllllOnd, p. 16.
7 tIlrofKMnt hi_as Kuoum: PriaV lIIarrb 1993,
Dlv1 ,I(M1 of ()('cu,*~OIIIIl ~ " llealth, ('.enerol
lodultl)' SaIeIy vroe .... ~KI!I 51\0, Tltlo ~, Calilorni.
Cod! of Rt(Ulotionl, p. 8.
lIloodlomc i'JJh...". RclO!J ru: PIC~. Sin Frl/lCi..""
m.i.l.., of Octupltlonol Hnllh " Sllet)'. Ge""ra]
I"du ltry Order. Section 5193. Tltlo B. Coli/omia Code of
Rtlultliont.
IlrulllfllOl\4, Oouglu C. MI), CCf'P The i'mtOlion
Df Cn!;u Infrt1lQp 10 !be fllnklir!,1 oma:.
lItitloll
CoIwTOII. Commin ... on 0tIke Medicall'Tactioe
AI.e_nl. CGItto: or f'il)'lirianl .... 5urgeoru. (I !I9l).
lie........ Fllukttt MD. 1'11.0.. and Louie. l1IomoI M.O,
FRC~. ·Stf:riliullon WId Dillnledion: ~uI Hintlln
0tIke1'tKtK<!-
Tbr rNW'I'D.Ioun:!aI mOO (1993), pp. 73-«1
JohnMn. ralitN,S/lIIU, Dovid 5. M5.Ch8. MPH,
CCf'P', ..... .1..11,_. """ MO, 0011. -Inrectlon Con"'" In
i'byIki .... OfIlm" c.....!1.g Family lbnjrjao \ '(Il J6
(It9CI~ pp. m2.Z2'J6.
1J:>n&,1la>1d. rtIoIo Elbi~1jop p( I'Ivpn IUd hl'lvpn
MrtboJo pf 1ofC(!J1Il Cwl!!!! iD Ibc 1)lIogjQl fnxtu
(lm~
IJ:>n&,IkMd. lltocription or I'rvper lllethodll u.... in !he
1)nooI", " ' - " (1!1t1)
~JI/!tQ.dt!omr; htboceos: fio,aJ
&uk. Dtpartmrnl P( latIou •. Ottupalional 5m1y and
llea~b "*"1011..11 ..... ~art II f.oIe .... Rtgi.t.r Vol 56. No.
23S(I~ I ).
Simi. Mitlll.tl and I)akotl, Erik.lnkl:lioo Cwtrol: (ljojeal
1'Nc~. n.. AI_lalinn P( P"'/""I<Of\all'ieru:rs.
MACHINEGUN
 WHAT
HAPPENED?
lET ME EXPLAIN SOMETHING. NOT ALL SCIENCE IS GOOD SCIENCE. IN FACT,
NOT EVERYTHING THAT IS PRESENTED AS SCIENCE, IS SCIENCE AT ALL. In
any attempt to learn things. a systematic me thod of st udy is requi red. Initial ly a
hypothesis is made, and it will be accepted to be true, until it is proven untrue.
You see, the idea isn't to prove t hings are true .. ,it is to prove things are not t rue. In
any case of trying t o prove things, accura te measurements must be made. A wor ld
without measurements would be a world of chaos ..
Imagine the police pulling you over, stating they were going to give you a ticket
because you seemed like you were probably speeding. You wouldn't accept that.
But tattooing has been functioning on a set of mechanical rules that are absolu te
guess work. There's even an entire list of non-sensical terms that describe nothing,
H
that seem to be accepted by the trade. What does It mean to Hburn a tune into
your machine? What exactly is a ~sweet SpotH? What ki nd of yokels are you? There
IS always an amount of voltage, that in conj\Jnction with a certain contact point size,
will cause the machine to ru n smoothly-and guess what? That's why the con ta ct
point on the machine and the voltage o n the power supply, are adjustable - so you

I can do that. Don't tell me about the sweet spot.

I can see you all, Just silting there, drooling, adjusting the point gap, then adjusting
the voltage, a little up, a little down, mostly down though, 'cause them low volts is
good, and all the time imagining you're working on your machine, just like the old

MACHINE. UN
 HISTORY OF
NEEDLEMAKING
ti'Tle machine builders. Well you're not. First off, you're not working The pointing of needles on hlgb-
O~ your machine, and secondly if you were like t he old time machin e speed power-driven sandstones
builders you'd probably be drunk, but for :;u re you'd be a broke loser was Introduced about 1180. Jobn
ir a trai ler park some p lace. And if you're O.K. with tha t, good-but Mills, who took over the converted
d::m't make it al l out to be something that it wasn't. I'm not saying old Ipsley Millin 1160, was probably
tiTle tattoo machine mechanics shou ld be criticized as pecple-but experimenting wltb the Idea as
to admi re how they did things ... to use their terminology ... come on- early as 1165, when he was charged
they had no ida" what they were doinG C:,,~p in point. the cut-back threepence for a ·thlng for the mill',
rrachine style. and In 1166 for warps and stones, and
Although I can admire the ingenuity that it took to develop the again In 1767 for ~even new poinUng
cut-back, I can't believe it was accepted as a viable so lut ion. Rea lly, stones, warps and pulleys. Needles
it should have been a stepping stone to a simp le, more efficient were almost certainly being pointed
solution. BaSically, the major o ld timer problem was spring stock. They by dry grinding in 1780. This 'new'
v~ry rarely wou ld use a variety of spring stock-they'd fi nd somet hing process was almost certainly similar
they believed was good and st ick with it. Now it's pretty d fficult to to the one developed by the London
make a machine run faster or slower without chang ing springs-but needlemaken a hundred yean earlier,
they managed to do tha t with the cut back. By moving the contact
and just as deadly. The first stones
Foints back on the front spring, the spring wi ll act hard. Imagine a
long piece of wood, a 2" .... 4", maybe eight feet long, it wil l bend, or used were pierced wltb a square
flex. Now, cut a foot off that same piece - same wood, same thickness, hole and filled tightly on to a square
but it won't fie ..... The springs on a tattoo machine are t he same - if t he shaft. This was accepted practice
spring is long, it will flex a lot, if the spring is short, it won't. Not on ly for edge grinders at that time, but
is the front spring on a cut-back short, but it is usua lly pretty wide as It was found that at the high speeds
well, making it even stiffer. This is going to give you a very s hort closed required to obtain a good point the
contact t ime on that machine. That is to say when the contact points stones tended to crack in the corners
on the machine touch there will be no flex in t he front spring, so the of the holes under centrifugal force
contact points will open aga in very quick ly. Now if t hat front spri ng and break-up, causing serious injuries
was very, very soft the contact points would touch, then flex up, t hen and sometimes death. Disturbing as
slowly flex down, and fi nally open. That's why a hard front spring wi ll this was, It was not the worst aspect.
make a machine run faster and a soft front spring wi ll make a machine The pointers worked In semi-darkness
fl.H'1 slower.
in order to see the points forming
So to take a machine and a lter it into a cut-back style means cutting by the light of their own sparks. The
and filing and moving that top binding post as far back as possible whole time they were enveloped In
so that the contact point will be as far back as possible on the front clouds of dust. 11 was found Impossible
spring. Now, you've got to imagine it'd take some half blind old for young men to become pointers
goomer quite a while to do that, with his old fi le and a dril l-but at until they had matured. The lire of a
least it would give him something to do. But ju st cutt ing a heavier pointer was considered to be abnut
gauge of front spring would have accomplished the exact same thing. seven years, few surviving to see their
tf you're going to admire the o ld time machine bui lders, go ahead-but
thirtieth birthday. They were well
keep it in conte .... t. The fact that any of them would run a cut-back liner
shows they were quick to determ ine a problem solved, when qu ite paid and refused any improvements
~kely a Simpler solution would have been found if they had just kept In their working condilions for fear
working at things in a scientific manner. that their salary would be reduced.
When S. Thomas and Son introduced
Anyhow, they had no way of measuring what they were doing with J. C. Chambers' fan into British mills
their eqU ipment, so they cou ld never prove or disprove anything. That the pointers went on strike for twelve
was just the way they did t hings. months. Ultimately a much greater
threat was posed by Colin Banks'
pointing machine. The pointers
purchased the first one from him and
ceremoniously smashed It up on the
Redditch Church Green In 1854.
Colin Banks used the money to go to
Aachen, where he sold his Invention
to the needlemaker Schlelcber of
Schonthal and sel himself up with the
proceeds In Iserlohn, selling out to
Hermann Joseph Neussln 1860. He
then returned home and built his nwn
cut-back factory In Reddilch.
 CI: One tnd 01 my dipcord is red. the uIher is black. Is ~s for posiliYt
and negative? If so, what's positive and negative on my machine?
A: There is no po5itiyt or nt<)alive on oil tattoo machine.
There is a positive and negative on most, but not all,
capacitors. The negative lead on the capacitor will be
indicated, unless the capacitor is bipolar, in which case 1\
does not matter which way the cl ipcord is. The draw back
with bipolar or non·polarized capacitors is thev have a much
shorter life than polarized capacitors. The nt<)atlve (black)
end 01 the cl ipco rd should always go to the connection on
the machine closest to the nega tive end of the capacitor.
Generally in electronics the ground, or l1t<)atlve, goes
directly to the frame. On a tattoo machine this Is general ly
If you're trying to save money, don't save rt on
needles, it's only a few cents and will ultimately
affect your work,
the top connection, at the sprinlj saddle. The lower binding
post WOt.Ild be the positive, because it is insulated but you'll
find as many mac hines with the negati ~e at the bottom, as
at the top - so check the capacitor.
Q; I know I should be coYering my machines with I plaslic big.
but it seems ~ke !hat will causa my madlinM to GvHtJul Is Iflil
possible?
A: FirSt of a ll, you're right. You should be bagging your
machines. If you tran:lmit a disease from one client to
another because you are ignorant 01 proper procedure,
that W(luld be a terrible thing. But if you knew better, and
just didn't follow pl"Of)tr procedure for whate~r reason,
how cou ld you live with yourself? Secondly, bagging your
machine will not cause machine o~rheating.
Q: Whars lIIe difference between carllnn sl!tl needtes and stain·
less stHt ne.dlts? ,"", also been hearing abo'" carbon plated
neeelts - what are 111'11
A: The quality, or usability of a needle for tattooing cannot
be judged solely by whal the needle Is made of. Cet1ainly,
stainless steel needles are the only needles ttklt should be used
for tattooing but not aU stainless steel need les are going to
W(lrIr: ~II for tattooing. The profile and diameter of the needle
will determine whether or rKlt a needle will won.; ~II for
tattooing. Carbon steel is a softer metal ttkln stainless steel
and consequently easier to grind. So, a less expensive material
that 's easier to manufacture ends up being a less e ~pensive
product. But not one ttklt should be used for tattooing.
Carbon st eel has a tendency to rust very quickly- and would
I
HlCHIIiEGUN
be constantly rxposed to liquId'; during the tattooing pr0ce5S.
Carbon plated need les are generally nickel or chrome plating
over a carbon steel needle - not some kind of carbon plating on
a needle. Very inexpensive, very low quality. No plated needle
sho uld ev1!r be used to tattoo. The process of tatt ooing causes
some ~ar on the needles. As the plating start> to wear, it
chips and separates from the needles. Stainless steel Is a more
eKpensive product. and very difficult to grind, espeCially at
the diameters and to the toleraroces required to make a good
needle lor tattooing. 115 high ~ost would be il$ only dralWilck.
If you're trying to s.ave money, don't save it on need les, it's
only a lew cenl$ and will ultimately affect your wor1o:.
0: lately my machines haye been losing power and sputter a bit when
I"m workinll. r", only !lad my power supply for a par. and paid a ill!
for it. Could it be wearing out alrudy?
A: No the problem is almost certainly not your power supply.
Almost every time it's your clipcorti. The wire will break
insiOe the r ubber coating, SO it won't be ~isib l e to your eyes,
and it won' t just break one day, it slowty breaks down causing
nothin<] but trouble. It sterns like it's your machine or the
power supply-but really it's just the clipcord. They don't last
forever- I'd guess you got a new clipcord when you got a new
power supply - and abo ut a year, for a busy tattOOl'r is about
how long a clipcortl will last. Always ha~ a 5j)are clipcord
on hand, thi~ is the first thing to chKk when you have any
mec hani cal problems- and it's usua lly the culp rit.
0: Some of !he guys I .... with are absolutely ani! about deanillg
lIIeir lubes-but they·re going 10 get aulodmd anyway, so whafs
Ihf big deal?
A: Autoclaving your equipment is not the same as cleaning
00 NOT KID YOURSELF! Things must be physica lly clean
before they are sterilired. And I mean pedectly clean. Let's
imag ine a tube that's been used to tattoo it's a bit dirty but
you rinse it off, scrub it,. and it seems pretty clean. You bag
it, and autOclave it later that week you set up with that tube
again - it's steril ized- it looks clean but if there was a bit of
dried pigment inslele the tube in some small comer that didn't
get cleaned away, it's still there. Once you start wor1o:ing ttkli
bi t 01 dried pigment dissol~s. Now it's gone - disso lved into
the pigment you' re using today. The problem is the comer of
the t ube ttklt was covered by that microscopic bit of pigment
is now exposed-it was not cleaned because it had pigmen t
on It. It also was not stenlired becal.lSe it had pigment on it
This is a ~ery serious issue that must never be taken lightly.
Know your p~ure, review your procedure, iIIld never take
short CUI$ with your procedure.
 YOUR TECffNICAL l>IFFlCULTIES RESOWEl>

D, I'm looking at new

pow!!' supp~ts. r.... notien
some are 120 volt and some art 220 'lOt
Is lIIere any iltvanlail to the higher voltage
ptwfl' sUpjllits - wil!hey cIeIim more power?
Wil I11M to do Iny f.-wiring in my shop 10 use a 220
'l1li power supply?
A: In North America we use 120 vol ts. Thai's the voltage
in your nor mal ele<:trical olltlet. Not so in other pa rts of
the world. A ll of Europe in fact uses 220 volts. The powe r
supplies that that are 220 voll .....;11 not gi~ more power to A: No, you cannot, but
you r machine, they a re designed to be used in othe r parts you woul d not want
of the m rld . it's as simp le as that. to even if you COul d .
By cha nging the setti ng
Il: WhIt do the diffmnt numbers meill on a capacitor?
on you r power sup pl y
A: There are two numbers listed on iii capaci tor. The first
is the voltage ra ting that a ppears as iI number fol lowed by
a cap ital 'V'. This Is the rna Kimum vol tage the capacitor
you are trying to
cha nge the st rength
of your mag ne ts. I
tan take befo re It fa ils. Two comm on rating s a re 25V
and 35V. Ge nerally a tattoo machine never runs above
12 vo lts SQ iii 25 vo lt rati ng is lots. The second rating is
Th e way to ma ke
an e lec t roma gnet
strong er or wea ke r Is
"
I
I \
the capacita nce rated in mic ro Farads. Th is is the rati o of
the quan ti ty of electr ici ty and the vo ltage. In othe r words,
the capaci ty of a capacitor depends on the amount of
el ectri city it will hold at a certain voltage. Two convnon
Sizes that work well for a tattoo machine are 22 uF and
47 uF. There are many different ratings available, but these
to vary the amo un t
of voltage. Th is Is
the most a ccu ra te
way to
your machlJ"le. By
contro l
I/
reducing the amp s, you are just iJ"lcreaslng the resista J"lce
two supply the right amount of enel"9Y fo r the way a tattoo iJ"l the circuit, and choking back the amount of power that
nlitChine runs. your machine can draw. By adjustiJ"lg the vol la ge, you ate
actually setting the strength of your magnets, and your
II: 0. of lilt guys! work with has a lib supply. lie claims IIIat his machine will draw tilt amount 01 amps thai it needs. To do
Ncbint I1IH b_ 011 low allps. ! 11m 110 idea whM !hat means. this you must make sure that you Milt a variable voltage
CIII! mtic:t !lit ImpS ItII my ,owttsupply? power supply. One example of this Is a lab supply, but they

COf!/;niHld Of! p4J

MACHINEGDN
 ConMUffd /rom p37
are generally overkill for tattooing. There are a feY>l ~r supplies that are designed for
tattooing that are as stable as a lab supply, but are considerably less rroney, and are more
compact
Q, Why is blllt stet! considered by some 10 bt 1M but material fDr springs?
A: I am not sure why many people believe this, I think it is because that was all that
was used for a long tUlle. Basically, it is blue because of the tempering process. It is
m.lde of C.lrbon steel, lind tempered (heat treated) to mllke it lI! hard II po!~ible. The
draw back Is that generally it is of fairly low quality. It is used in applications that
are not as critical as the setup of a tattoo machine. To setup a machine properly, you
must be able to vary the force of )'Our front and back springs. The most practical way
to do this is to change the thickness of the spring. You could do it by changing the
length, but this is not practical, because you could not line up your n~dle bar in your
tube. Basically you want a wide selection of spring thickness, in ~ steel that is very
consistent,because a difference of 0.001" in thickness can make a big difference to
how the machine runs.

f3a,uue ~ 4- e~ ~ & SeIUd«4

..~ ........-/- tk ~ t4tto<> MU4t"
~

solid oak 1011et seats. glove belle cove..s, QJstomiZed power su~ covers and morel

.uai141k ae 7~
1175 e--.< Se.. ~. 2MJu. ';iI!J(; 2'81
{514/ 397-0013 - ' ~ @wr... . _