CR Jordan

The springs are what give the tattoo machine its fluid motion
flow. They are the physical mechanical component that will primarily
determine how well the machine runs, and in what capacity.
Springs can be thought

It is important to remember that less wraps in a coil means less
resistance. Less resistance means that the voltage can in theory
get to the place it is going to, faster. The gauge of wire will also
affect this.

Experiment with different coil sizes (heights), and wraps. You
may notice that less wraps will turn the magnets on and off
faster because there is less resistance to complete the circuit.
You may also notice that

Coil wraps are the material that is used to cover the coil. Coil
wraps can be heat-shrink tubing, or a sticker. There are limitless
designs for the sticker coil wraps; the most common is the
checker holograph

Coils come in all different shapes and size variations. The most
common variance is observed by the number of wraps that a
coil will contain, usually anywhere from seven to fourteen. Popular
wrap counts are eight,

As electricity flows through the
tattoo machine it travels around
the coils in the wire, creating an
electro-magnetized core. It is this
magnet that will pull down on the
armature bar and force the needle
into the

The coils are the prime power-plant of the tattoo machine. In my
opinion the coils are the most important part of the actual tattoo
machine. The coil is composed of a core that is wound with wire.
There are

Like everything else in the world of tattoo, there is no such thing
as a “best frame”. You will notice that a lot of the frames available
on the market have similar geometry to the tried and tested
age old

How do you tell if your machine is a cutback? If the
contact post assembly is moved further back than a
normal machine it might be considered a cutback. The
actual frame does not have to be cut in order for

Frames can reveal how a machine is intended to run by the creator
of the frame. This is prevalent in the typically agreed upon
style of the cutback frame. The cutback tattoo machine frame
will have the hole where

Important parts of the frame are the location where the contact
screw is located in relation to the tube vise hole, and its overall
geometry. The overall geometry is the location of the holes that
are tapped in

The way the frame looks on the side is argued to be only superficial
by some, and countered by others to be a prime source
of magnetic field origination. This second group argues that the
amount of metal content

It is also important to note that the machine frame’s metal is not
the only factor you have to consider. The coils, springs, armature
bar, capacitor, and contacts in that order are also important.
It is almost a

Different metals have not only different resistance to electrical
current, but different weights as well. Some artists will prefer to
utilize a lighter machine, and some will prefer more weight. This
is all just a

I have not done extensive
testing on tattoo machine metallurgy to measure resistance and
magnetic field changes, nor would I really care to. With that being
said, there are a few organizations out there that have

A lot of artists will use different machine frames for different purposes.
Typically a machine frame is made of iron, steel, brass,
aluminum, a metal-ceramic polymer, and even plastic. It is arguable
that the

Tattoo machines work off of an electromagnetic coil. It is usually
agreed upon by artists that the coil has to run in a horseshoe
configuration to achieve synchronized pull. This can only
be achieved if the cores

Metal is all over the tattoo machine. 90% of the tattoo machine
is made of some type of metal, and the type of metal will
determine a lot of things about a specific machine. The most
prominent part of the tattoo

Mechanical or Electrical, which comes first? This is another
classic example of the chicken or the egg question that plagues
humanity. If you are articulate enough, then it is very possible
to claim either. I like

No matter what you call the parts of a tattoo machine, how they
all function is the important thing to analyze. Each component
has an important role. Some components can be argued to
be part of a larger set of