Tarantula

[Tarantula]

@Viper65 wrote:

Jesus Christ……….I knew this thread was gonna go to shit the minute i saw that picture of the machine with a metal tube on it. Have at it fellas Im outta this one, this dead horse has been beat so many freaking times its ridiculous. Have fun..

Sorry you feel that way, but if people come on here for help they should be given the facts, the fact that the OP kinda made it sound like they weren’t clued up about the whole sterilization process is why I made my post.The fact that they showed a picture od a machine with a metal tube? who gives a fuck to be honest? when I post pictures of the machines I build I do so with metal tubes and grips, I dont use them though, so I’m not likely to jump to that conclusion, unless ofc the picture showed them in use…

Just because YOU feel a horse has been flogged enough doesn’t mean it doesn’t still need a good kicking every now and then. With new people joining in discussions (which YOU wanted) you may find the same material needs to be discussed a few more times. Anyone considering working on human skin needs to be aware of the dangers involved, and that some people give out bad information (Ultrasonics for instance).

If you feel that a subject has been dealt with enough that you don’t want to get involved then maybe the fact you don’t post at all would suffice? You kinda made it sound like you think the whole health and safety aspect of tattooing is “ridiculous”…

[Tarantula]

When you say get a sterilizer first and THEN an autoclave what did you mean? The autoclave does the sterilizing, any process before that does cleaning and disinfecting. Ultrasonics just clean stuff, you use them for cleaning most of the ink and blood from any reusable items: tubes, tips, grips etc. Then clean with brushes, then ultrasonic again then sit it all for a few hours in disinfectant… at some point later you would then bag them up and autoclave (sterilize) them. There’s a lot more to the process than most people think and I know some places advertise their ultrasonics as sterilizers but they most definately are not. Baby bottle sterilizers also do not work and nor does boiling (believe it or not there are some people who think these work). Then there’s the spore testing…now as you can see it’s going way out of most peoples price range.

Someone mentioned chemical sterilization in another post if I remember correctly, I know nothing at all about that method, but chemicals need specialist training to be used correctly and safely, chlorine gas is stupidly easy to make with household chemicals and its deadly, so my advice is to stay well away from chemicals unless you have training.

As Tex says you should be aware of BBP’s during the process too, treat every customer as if they have every disease known to man, even if it’s your own mother.

[Tarantula]

Plastic wrap is probably the worst thing you can use to cover a tattoo, it sweats, all the serum and blood still leaking from the tat heats up and becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. The main reason people use it is so Mr. Firsttattoo can look at it on the way home without taking the protection off and getting infected within the first few minutes. If you can get the client to sit around for half an hour and have a cup of coffee before leaving most of the weeping will be finished and using plastic wrap won’t be quite so bad.
Wounds need air to heal properly so plastic is a really bad idea, gauze is good and even folded up kitchen towel is better than plastic. Problem is when you put plastic wrap on a tattoo you don’t know how long that person is going to keep it on, maybe they have several hours before they get home and a chance to take it off and wash the tat…

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Bag ’em

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like it

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thats some damn nice looking work

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http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Fundamentals-Modern-Tattoo-Jordan/dp/0615281478
This is the book I recommend I have the black book and the spalding book too but this is by far the best book you can buy as far as all round information for beginners goes

[Tarantula]

None of my machines run at over 7v, I build my own machines and they usually run at between 4 and 5v. Even the cheap ass ones that came with the kit ran at 7v until i stripped them down and rebuilt them, now they also run between 4 and 5. Strip it down and see if you can spot any problems, if not decide whether you want to keep the frames and replace parts or just buy a new machine. The last thing you want is to damage your own skin while tattooing, not only for health reasons (I’m guessing the heat didn’t burn through your gloves?) but also because if you are in pain how can you do your best work?

All machines run at different voltages but 12v is way too high, there are a few reasons it mat be heating up as others have discussed, but also look at whether you have too many elastic bands, or too tight – they’re only there to hold the needles to the back of the tube tip, too many or too tight elastic bands make the whole A-bar set up difficult to move, as well as making the coils have to work much harder this also puts tons of strain on the back spring. The back spring also might be the problem, if it’s too thick you have the same problem, combined with too many elastic bands…

My advice is to try and sort the problem out, learn your machines inside out so you can make repairs on the fly, by all means invest in a better machine but if you come across the same problem again you still won’t know the cause. Also, if you just buy a new machine, how long will it take you to get it set up sweet as you like it?
If you don’t want to get involved in tuning and knowing how to repair your machines then I reccomend buying a rotary. I have a stealth machine, takes a few secs to switch from liner to packer or shader (by changing the bearings – simple job involving 1 hex head screw), and if the motor burns out just a few screws need to be undone to replace the whole motor, the only setting up needed is how much needle you like to hang with.

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nice job!

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nice! thanks for the link.

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I dilute colours just the same as for grey washes, you can also mix in the tube with a cup full of distilled water counting elephants. It just gives a faded out colour. I did a tat a little while ago that had the guys family motto on top of a claymore sword, on top of a scottish flag. To give the whole thing depth I did the lettering in a very dark black (kuro sumi) the sword was just an outline in a thin (3rl) 50% wash and the flag was done in a very light (12%) blue wash. It was a pretty good effect and made the layers stand out rather than just be a flat mass of colour.

[Tarantula]

I bought some needles and disposable tubes from tmart once, cost me about £1.50 for 5 free postage… got what I paid for to be honest.

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Helpmetattoo would be the one, i only ever really check this place and that one regularly :) Welcome to the forums, you’ll find people here are pretty friendly and helpful.

[Tarantula]

I’ve seen these before! Is it on here or another forum?

[Tarantula]

Not silly at all! Firstly read the book several times, there’s tons of stuff in there. Other than that front springs often come ready bent so just leave them like that, you can adjust the angle a little if you like but remember everytime you bend the spring you weaken the metal. The flat front springs are usually called “true” springs these are flat because the A-bar has the correct angles machined into it and the springs dont need bending.

If you make your own springs or get some that are flat you can either roll them (I do this for my shaders as I find it makes them hit softer than a bent spring). Or you can buy a jig that has the correct angles on it, this usually has a jig for making the whole a-bar set up perfectly straight.

If you’re going to bend it by hand make sure you use a vice to keep the bend straight, use an old spring to get your measurements from.

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