Chinese stuff

Disclaimer: I'm not an apprentice or looking to be one. As such, I submit my question to an internet forum for review. I used to build/tune/race my own motorcycles so mechanics are not an issue and I'm looking at these form a mechanics perspective, not an artist's in this post.

I put this here because I know everyone thinks these are "toys". I was given a piratefacetattoo.com kit for my birthday and have just played on practice skins. I've read the fundamentals book multiple times and have pulled apart all of the machines to see how they tick and if I can make them better.

All of the machines seem to run pretty smooth out of the box. Needle tube vices were all in line and tubes was installed no issues, armature bars were in line over coils, all of the fasteners were loose when I got it but that was not tough to correct.

What I did notice is that the springs they use are more like tinfoil than steel and the longer the machine ran the longer the throw seemed to get. I replaced the springs on two, one with a shorter spring for liner an one with a standard spring for shading. The machines already seem to be better.

Next upgrade, because I can't for the life of me find something wrong with the frames (one piece bent aluminum...no welds to break), is the coils. The machines run great but they do heat up after 30-40 minutes of work.

Armature bars are aluminum and seem fine. I may just be too new to notice they suck. ...any reason to replace these? I did put one in a press and reduce some weight from it to speed up one machine at lower voltage...worked great.

The foot switch was crap and I had to dissect it and re-solder all the connections but now it's fine. The power supply has a great readout to the tenth and power is smooth. I won't replace these until they die.

Beyond coils heating up and springs too thin I'm having trouble really finding any issues with the machines that warrant the bad rap they seem to get. Is it because I'm objective and haven't dismissed the machines as crap from the get go or am I missing something. There is nothing complicated about these machines...pretty straight forward .

Mark

I put it down to closed-mindedness/elitism. Other than one set of coils dying immediately before a job, I can honestly say I've had no problems with my Chinese machines. I've re-built each of the ones I use, and they've always done what I need them to do. Okay, the 8 wrap liner did start to get a bit unhappy after running for 6 hours, but after a cool down, it was good as gold again. At the end of the day, if the machine does the job it needs to do (put ink in the skin cleanly and consistently) that's all that matters. Anything else is just snobbery, like people who flash their Rolexes or sports cars.

[canvasyou]

Cheap stuff is fine - if coils are over heating then check out that you are running a good duty cycle - stronger coils will not heat up as much...
the better in tune the machine is - typically the cooler it will stay...
also certain metals dissipate the heat better than others!
Best of luck!

The bad comments are normally aimed at the people using them,like there's a geezer at the end of my street who clames he a tattoo artist and he honestly doesn't have a clue its scary, my 5 year old daugther could do a better job

[canvasyou]

Globalization

The foot switch was crap and I had to dissect it and re-solder all the connections but now it's fine.



Team TAG culver city

for me it is a matter of practicality...
can a cheap Chinease machine be rebuilt and customized to run ok? sure. the question is do you have the time/energy/money to do that?
if you get a cheapo machine for $70, then buy some decent coils for $30, then a few various springs and capacitors, a-bars, ect- then you've spent $100-$150 (don't forget $hipping) as well as lots of time with trial and error to work up a decent machine.

the alternative is to buy a decent machine for $200 from a decent builder/company and it's already set up the way you want and has the backing of quality- not trial and error. this seems like a better deal to me becasue if i spend $150 in materials and then another 3-4 hours swapping parts, modifying and tuning- that's $16 an hour i paid an expert to do the same job. i would much rather pay that and then get that extra 3 hours back to focus on my drawing and artwork.

think of it this way- if you are a painter, why would you want to be a brush maker too? you should be focusing on painting, not manufacturing brushes. it's a better use of your time. IMHO.