8 coil machines (liner) or 10 coil shader.

You would be better off buying a 8 coil machine for now if you are only buying one. I line with a 10 coil machine but it hits very hard and i have it set up to work with my style! But you can tear the skin all to hell with a 10 coil or a 8 coil. You can get 2 Hildabrandt tattoo machines for $100 and they are already set up to go out of the box except for a few small minor adjustments. I use a tweaked up 44 magnum in my shop for lining. But if you do decide to go with only one tattoo machine i would suggest getting a bulldog style frame because the are easy to adjust. Get yourself 2 a-bars and some short lining front and back springs and long shading front and back springs and set them both up where you can change them out between lining and shading. To me that would be a head ache you really need two machines. You could get another machine set up for lining and set up the one you have now for shading… What do you have right now??

It could be tuned to be some sort of light shadder but i really couldn’t tell you without hearing and feeling the machine run. Does it heat up or get hot really quick? If it doesn’t then you might have a chance. Can get a set of replacement coils and use the frame. As far as your other question it just means that it was wrapped with thicker gage of wire to give it a harder hit and less prone to eat up as fast. But don’t quote me on that caused im sure there is a more educated summary to that definition. Just make sure you order you a few sets of different size springs and also you need to check the book the basic fundamentals of modern tattoo it has alot of great stuff in there.

I hope you didn’t pay $40 for that machine…that is a $5 machine.

more wraps simply means more resistance…the longer it takes for electricity to get through the coils. They won’t make a machine stronger, or hit harder…the more layers typically just a slower running machine. Shaders, compared to liners, are typically running fewer cycles per second.

More wraps can also mean more heat.

You could easily take an 8 wrap machine with a 47 capacitor and shade all day long
Or a 10 wrap with a 22 and line all day long
or an 8 with a 22 and change springs, increase throw, increase rear spring tension and pack color all day long.

If you understand the theory behind what makes a machine do what it does, it’s easier to make it do what you want it to do. I recommend the Godoy’s book “Tattoo machines and their secrets”. those guys actually build machines that do it all based only in voltage.

Good luck.

Mark

The more wraps around the coils mean more voltage and current going through the machine witch results in a harder hitting machine. Different coil sizes are also used for different needle groupings and sizes .There many different coil sizes but i am just talking about three different size coils(to keep it simple) being used in tattoo machines. 1. The 8 wrap coil. (wrap meaning how many layers of wire are wrapped around the center core of the coil) 2. A 10 wrap coil. 3. A 12 wrap coil.

The 8 wrap coil is used mostly when doing an outline with a 1,3,4, and a 5 needle outliner. I would not recommend using an 8 wrap coil outliner machine when doing larger outline work such as when a 8 or 14 needle outline is called for. You would have to increase the voltage (by turning the power supply up) which would in effect increase amperage. When you increase amperage more power is being used and a 8 wrap coil is to small to dissipate (give off) the heat. This condition would make the tattoo machine run hotter and even possibly cause the machine timing to break up and cause an uneven outline.When you are going to use a 8 or 14 needle outliner, I would recommend using a 10 wrap coil tattoo machine.

When you think about it…the more needles on the needle bar…the more skin you have to puncture…the more skin you have to puncture the greater resistance…and the greater resistance the stronger the tattoo machine you need.

When you increase the power on your power supply the needles don’t go up and down any faster, the magnetic field is increased, which draws down the needle down harder and allows the skin to be punctured more easily. This is what appears to make the ink go in faster.

The same principal applies ‘s with a 10 wrap coil shader tattoo machine. If you are going to use a 4 , 5 , or six needle shader then a 10 wrap coil tattoo machine is just fine. This is how a friend from Tattoo.org explained it to me from another post. So, yes wraps do mean a harder hiting machine but you can change the capacitor and make any coil size run for shading or lining.

not sure if my input’s worth anything here, but my pro trainer uses a micky sharpz hybrid it’s £119 but solid machine that works really well, she lines and shades perfectly with it and never changes any power settings to change over. i love using it but i struggle with the weight of that and a big 30mm grip she sets it with :) but it definatly sit’s up there with the big pro machines at £500!