Hilsbrandt – First Time, HELP PLS!

[CrownOfThorns]

Hello,

I decided instead of painting etc, I would spend the next few months watching learning finding as much as I can about tattooing and doing ONLY fake skins, pig skins, and melons.

Last night was the day my .38 and .44 liner/shader came in from hilsbrandt.

The kit looks very nice and the machines look nice too.

I had a horrible time getting everythign set up, it took me 20 mins to get the grommets fit onto the needles, damn thats a stupid fit.

The worst was was

1)The chinese skin was horrible, ink smeared everywhere and if I tried to move too much it got stuck or gouged in rubber and you couldnt make circular motion etc.

2) My biggest concern is something seems wrong with the power of the machines. On my instructional video it said at 7.5 it should be good for lining, at 7-7.5 the machine is barely humming. When I press it to the fake skin, it doesnt even dig in, it bogs out. At 8.5 it starts to sound more like what it should sound like and go in atleast. But I was having to run the machines at 9.5 amps to get the desired effect. Either 1) the rubber fake skin is so unlike human skin it needs to run higher or 2) Maybe my power supply/coords are shit? Not gonna lie the power supply and coords look sketchy and my foot pedal is literally like a 4 by 2 inch silver sheet of metal.

I can deal with my practice work looking like shit, but my machines seeming so weak and shitty running is super discouraging. Please offer any suggestion.
I think i’ll buy some melons this weekend to see if it was mostly the fake skin, but I dont know why the machine doesnt start to cherp and sound nice and strong til 9amps+

[Lennart82]

Hey there.

The fake skin, well, yes its crap and not like real skin,you can not get a good stretch (you cant get any) and the feel of it, is just wrong. What I have learned about fake skin, and how to make it…. hmmm… well less annoying. First up, wash it real good, get all that “fnuf” of it. And before you put the machine on, put some vaseline on it, that makes the ink come of a bit easier.
Then its a bit more workeble.
And if your wearing gloves, the a bit of vaseline on them, and it will glide a bit better.

Those grommits can be a piece of work. Try putting it in the needle loop, before sliding it on the nipple. ;)

I think your perhaps running it a bit low. A rule of thumb, Liner should be set between 8-10 (high) and a shader should be set at 6-8 (low)
In between those settings you should find the perfect buzz. ;)

[robroy289]

Sounds like you need to loosen the rear spring screw and then swing the whole spring and armature bar assembly around and give it a good slight bend to give it a little more resistance. Only the rear spring is what i am referring to. then line it back up and snug the screw. you may have to repeat a few times until you get it ruining smooth. That adjust the spring tension and throw.http://youtu.be/DJxMisim9Nw I hope this helps.

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