Curious opinion of brass vs. iron frame

[presstorelease]

I’m just curious what opinions there are about the different quality metals for tatt machine frames.

thanks all

[presstorelease]

Curious also about damascus steel frame

thanks again

[avatar]

im a big fan of my Damascus steel frame but mainly for the design of the frame and how comfortable it sits on my hand

im not a huge fan of brass it isnt the best conductive metal for a frame out there

[imported_canvasyou]

My favorite is brass.
: )
CR Jordan

[Jermz808]

@canvasyou wrote:

My favorite is brass.
: )
CR Jordan

Do you prefer brass because of its weight in comparison to steel, or just for looks?

[imported_canvasyou]

i prefer for vibration, weight, and ability to carve – since i build machines now. it is a softer metal than iron

[D-Man]

Well .. I think it depends what you are actually asking about:

Leaving the asthetic aspects aside and focusing on the mechanics you are best off with a pure iron frame. It has the best attributes of a metal to work with the coils.
An often overlooked function of the frame is that it is an important component in building the magnet (two coils and the frame from the U-shaped magnet which then attracts the armature bar).
Even here you need to distinguish between soft iron and hard iron. Hard iron will keep its magnetism longer and last thing you want is for your machine frame to be magnetic.

Another aspect is ownership: because it is iron it will tend to rust so you will need to look after machine “more” (if that is possible).

Brass on the other side is not magnetic and you will need to use a yoke.

As far as everything else goes:
Feel in hand, vibration, etc is a matter of frame design and geometry and has little to do with the material used.

Vibration is a very difficult topic as it can be very subjective. Have you noticed how the machine vibrates more 2 hours into your piece ? Any metal sucks when it comes to vibration .. it just passes it on and it will end to the only fix point being your hand and then your wrist. The key here is to try to avoid vibrations in the first place and or add components to reduce vibration to be passed through.
Vibration is generated in different places in a machine .. when the armature bar hits the coils, when it its the contact screw, the movement of the spring towards the rear including inertia and not to forget the needle breaking into the skin.

Personally I do prefer brass, provided the machine is desgined properly, otherwise I would go for heavy iron to help with its inertia to compensate for the vibration. I know it is a bit of contradiction to the above, but I do have strong wrists, so weight did not use to be a problem.

[Author]

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