D-Man

[D-Man]

Hi,
I do both. It really depends what I want to do. For example I had a customer who wanted a series of foot pedal with the insignia of his “club”. had to do something from scratch there -used copper, aged it, then plated it and took off (with a laser engraver) the plating to show the insigna. The need for modification is really restricted, but I like to use an imported stainless steel foot pedal. I replace all the guts (switch, cable, plugs) and make custom depressor (that’s what I call the bit you push down with your foot and activates the switch). The pedal I am doing now this week calls for a clear resin with suspended LEDs being always on when connected in the shape of a heart – in neon blue.

Another common modification is to change the pressure switch with an off/on switch and then there is the usual repair.

[D-Man]

@xDreamerx wrote:

I’m kinda curious about the CX3, what would shipping cost for that?

In my opinion: Don’t ! The CX3 is a knock off and then a rape of the Hurricane. Ever wondered why a digital power supply needs a physical switch ? An original would have that designed in, not having them go in with a drill and put in a few extra wires and plugs to let you switch between two machines. Not to mention missing standard features like suction feet, rotating holder, etc

[D-Man]

@TheAlmightyGringo79 wrote:

in response to the original post here, All well and good saying nickel and dime thicknesses, but i am in the U.K so any idea of that approxamation for us brits please?

Thanks in advance.

1mm vs 2mm

[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.

[D-Man]

@BKLZ wrote:

Heard about some machines taking on magnetic energy and softening up the hit after a while of use… some guy was even saying that he takes his machines to wall mart or somewhere to put them on the demagnetizer for a few minutes at the cashier.

The material of the armature bar might not be the correct one. What you are looking for is a metal which reacts to the magnetic forces but does not get magnetised easily or only for a very(!) short period. Lower cost metals unfortunately tend to remember their magentism, something made worse by the vibration (contributing factor in making a metal magnetic).

[D-Man]

Hi,
from my experience there are several reasons this can happen and many components which are involved. All of the below to be read as ** in my opinion **

The powersupply can definitely be an issue. Some power supplies use low cost components who generate too much heat and as they heat up the components start to fail.
The thing is that when you adjust your rubber band you give it time to “chill”, so you adjusting the rubber band could be just that you are giving it time to recover. Have any other measures shielded the same result (Eg stop for a minute)
*** do not open your powersupply .. you might void warranty and endanger youself *** but put your hand on the power supply and – this might seem strange – smell it.
See if you can use an amp meter to determine the draw and possibly check on actual voltage drop. Don’t rely too much on the voltage displayed .. it might be off or wrong.

My suggestion would be to take the number on the display as calibration mark, not as an actual voltage. The best voltage for the job will depend on the current tuning parameters of your machine, even the rubber bands being used, needles used, type of line you are running, etc

Check the foot pedal .. cheap (not as in price, but fabrication) might generate too much resistance, heat up and cause a voltage drop. Get a multimeter and check the resistance.

Check that every connection is making good contact and is secure … a bad connection (eg lose banana clip screw, half connected cable, bad soldering, etc)

If it is indeed improving with adjusting the rubber band, it might be that the armature bar is not moving with enough force. That can have several reasons:
1) check the capacitor .. is it still operational
2) do you have the clipcord connected correctly (as far as polarity goes)
3) do you have the right coils for your tasks (e.g driving larger/thicker needles requires a bit more force)
4) what material is your armature bar (I have seen cheap armature bars who magnetise temporarly, causing for the bar to try to stick to the coil cores more and more as you work. As you take a break they lose the magnetism)
5) coil wire material: aluminium wire vs copper wire – it is hard for the untrained eye to identify what kind of wire your coils are using. Aluminium wire tend to get hotter, the generated heat increases the resistance slowing the machine down – check the temp of your coils by touching them.
6) Heat: does your machine get very hot (could be caused by any of the above
7) and finally tunning: Are you running your machine too fast, is there (a lot) of spark between the front spring and the Contact Point Screw. Check the angle between the screw and the spring and take notice how much of the screw is coming in contact with the spring. Listen to your machine .. it should purr .. any roughness might mean that you need to readjust.

As far as the machine goes .. take it apart and check the solder lugs … I have seen it more than once that the solder lug was actually broken and only held in place by the heat shrink. Pull (gently with lots of lovin’) on the coil wire .. sometimes it is loose or the soldering into the lug is not done well … common problems with aluminium wire.

Check your spring material … if you are having one of those springs which can easily be bend with your finger you might be in bit of trouble as the force of the up and down movement might cause for spring to generate heat and possible bend (and you lose your tuning). My favourite are springs which will snap if you bend them too much and the only way to bend them is to “roll” them.

[D-Man]

In regards to the copy-cats:I think that the most confusing is that while they look all the same, there are a few different manufacturers for the same looking device.
A good example are the Cyclone 360 copies. I know of at least three genuine factories who make the knock offs and a handful of others who claim they are the manufacturer, but they just end up being some form of reseller.
The danger in getting stuff from “resellers” is everytime you order you might get different versions.

On the other hand you have the original Hurrican (created in China) and then knocked off by so many others.

One thing to keep in mind is the cheaper you get the item, the cheaper the quality. Having said that .. you might fork out more and still get the cheap s**t.

When looking at eBay you have to look at who is selling the items. Often you will find sellers who sell hundreds of the same item per month (just look at the “Tattoo Kits”) only to disappear once they have sold their container load.
Others stick around for longer. You can identify the more serious one by what else they have to offer and get an idea on how they understand the industry. The “quick sellers” often don’t even know what they are selling.
The more commited ones will have spend time research their sources and have established a relationship.

I do agree that you will want to support the companies who invented the original, Eikon is a good example. But often the buyer is faced with the problem that equipment only gets sold if you flash your association card or certificate or some other proof that you are a professional.

[Author]

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