Fantastic! Not so long ago you couldn't find anything on the net about these subjects. Like it was some kind of secret society....like you needed some lame handshake or had to eat enough crow or you wouldn't be "let in". Truth be told it seems that there were more tattooist that just did things because that was the way they were taught. Not knowing the why behind it limited the abilities to pass on the knowledge and thus created the illusion of difficulty. Inability to teach a trade shouldn't be confused with the "inability to learn". Thanks for sharing knowledge Jono!
Back in the day (early 90’s) guys you apprenticed for didn’t teach you much besides how to execute a tattoo. The reason why was because they were afraid if you knew stuff you would leave and be more successful somewhere else. So a lot of us did stuff just because “that’s the way it is done”.
Actually you need enough experience and professional training to understand it, with a Chinese machine in bad shape in a tutorial with someone without tattoos can’t learn much 😂 keep it going you’ll be ok…
I think this comment ^ is really narrow minded and judgmental to assume in this particular video i have no visible tattoos on show I automatically don't know what I'm talking about. Im sure 100k subscribers would disagree. For an industry supposedly free for artists to express themselves and people to be unique Ive found over the years it contains some of the most toxic and judgemental attitudes which is really sad. If you had the knowledge you'd also know Mickey Sharpz machines are built in the Uk and not China.
I've watched a lot of videos on how to tune my machine and how to trouble shoot some problems I'm having but didn't really understand what was going on until this video. Thank you for the detailed, simple explanation of this!
Awesome video! I learned something new. It would be so cool to see a series where you take us all the way through doing a traditional tattoo from start to finish -lining, color packing and whipshading. I know you have separate vids on some of this. But a definitive walkthrough POV style with good commentary would be next level. So those of us starting can see all this info put together in one small cohesive series. Thanks for everything. Much respect from Uruguay!
Joe Master Push thanks for the great feedback and suggestion! This would make a really cool video. I’m pretty limited at the moment due to the lockdown but as soon as I get back to the studio I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this perfect explanation. You’re as clear and to the point as anyone could wish for. Great job with the visuals of each element of the coil machine. Thank you 🙏🌷
Jono I’ve stripped and rebuilt my liners shaders and packers hundreds of time during my apprenticeship. I’m still doing it the same way years later. It’s a pity more people aren’t taught how to re build coils. I’d have no problems with you tuning my coils mate. Well done! Nearly brought a tear to my eye . Stay healthy 😷👍
Should we set the same 50% duty with different springs and armature bar for color packer? I thought that in color packers it is better to set duty below 50% to keep needle more time in skin to let thicker ink settle in. What do You think Jono? You give great knowledge for free. Ppl should be really grateful for that. I am. Thank You. Best wishes, Daniel.
Hey Jono, just wanted to let you know this video made a huge difference in my learning. I couldn't get a liner made by Johnny Dollar (Legend old school Aussie tattooist) to work right. I bought it second hand off someone who probably 'set it up' wrong. I tried using all your advice but suspected the gauge of the springs was too light for the coils, took me forever to get it to kind of go ok. Scored some good 20 gauge lining springs and tuned it in under five minutes following your tutorial! Keep it up mate!
Great video. I have watched what seems like countless hours of tattoo videos. Thank you for the easy to watch and detailed info. I haven’t seen anyone else go into detail about CPS or even mention the duty. Now I have another reason for my daughter(12) and I to upgrade to a real machine and power supply!
This is by far the best, most well explained tuning video I've seen! It looks like with all this new knowledge I'll be upgrading my power supply, considering my current one does not have a Hz/CPS readout or a duty readout. Thanks for making amazing, informative and entertaining content!
A tip that worked for me, the gap between the two screws of the spring can't be too short because ur machine have to use more power to push down, so give a larger gap on those screws ( not too much) and try it
Good video! Just one thing to add. Put a needle and tube in it and dip it in a water cup while tuning. Then it's really 100% on point when you are working.
regarding the price of a good machine, there are the imperfections who make a tattoo seem natural, the beauty is in the simplicity and all the other excuses (big winky face). thanks mate, quite informative and helpful. keep it up!
This would have been so helpful when I was making the decission choosing between rotary and coil! This is a great video, huge learning value! Your explanation is clear and concise, the visual is great (it shows how much work you've put into it!), I love it. Thank you for making the video, it might actually push me to switching to coil once this whole pandemic thing is over.
Thanks for the great feedback! I personally use rotary for the majority of my tattoos but I do occasionally go back to coils. There’s just something about them that I love including the sound they make. Thank you also for acknowledging the time I put into this. It did take a looooonnnnng time to put together but comments like this make it worth it!
Great vid...duty cycle and hz...these are things you don't hear about or read in the books...its usually only mentioning the set screw adjustment...but obviously theres so much more to it.
Love Mickys. I have a nice line-o-graph. Had it for a good 20 years and although it's been retired, it never let me down. Its had beer spilled on it. Been dropped a bunch of time. A couple spring changes is all ever it had done to it. Peace.
Cool video, most in depth from all the other ones on RU-vid. However, no body seems to talk about the length and width of the front and back springs as well as the angle of the contact screw :p
thanks for the tutorial truly awesome, question if your running a power supply that doesn't have a hrz/duty display like a musotoku how would you get that reading effectively? thanks
If you haven’t got either duty or hertz reading then you have to do it on the ‘feel’ and sound of the machine. You can use the coin method which will get you in the right area.
I usually use two sometimes three rubber bands adjusted nicely to hold the needle from walking around in the tip of the tube. I can aim some of the pressure pulling back up the needle or pulling back down, depending on how I set those rubber bands as well, which will affect the speed in a little bit of the hit of the machine. One rubber band is not that hot. Jogging your rubber bands around a little bit or experiment with some different springs and make sure you have some decent quality coils three rubber bands should not affect the way your machine runs that much other than it will hold that needling place better than one rubber band to each their own.
Hey thanks for the info, for us scratchers I just don't have the time or money to apprentice. But ur giving us the knowledge to at least be better and learn. Thanks My Dude. 👍👍
Hey Jono, can you give recommendations on starter power supplies for beginners? a big reason you're probably getting so many people asking about what voltage to run might be because a lot of the lower end power supplies (i.e. the ones people get with their beginner kits) only show voltage.
Really great video very knowledgeable as I’m a Newby thank you so much for going into so much detail I watched it today and tomorrow I’m going to watch it again and tune it with my new Mickey B’s coil machine Haha, cheers bud I’ll let unknow how I get on👍
Hi ya I’ve just tuned my Micky bee liner machine thanks to you and it sounds great , I will be giving the old skins a going over later today cheers jono 🤟🤟👌👍
Thank you! I took an old cheap machine apart and cleaned it up. I finally got the voltage and duty correct but the HZ were way too high and I looked everywhere to find out why . I’m gonna go bend my spring now.
Loved the video, liked and subscribed.... now I do not have a digital power supply. more old school big red light one switch a dial and a fuse. I have to tune by ear just like harmonics on a guitar. If you can do a video on tuning with use of an older power supply that be awesome to watch(unless you already do???).
Super helpful theory wise, wish I had a power supply with a readout! Was gifted a cheap amazon set last summer and Ive been fighting with tuning the entire time. Managed to get my liner running well one time, and it went out of tune pretty quickly. Reminds me of using roseart crayons as a kid. 🤣
Hi, mate. Love your videos! One quick question: When you tune the machines to those readings is it loaded with needle and rubber band or not loaded.? I’m asking because when I load the machine the readings always drop a little bit. I’ll appreciate it if you answer. Cheers!
That’s a really good question. Personally I’ve always tuned ‘unloaded’ ie. no needle. For the simple reason that having swing the armature bar out every time results in having to remove the needle from the armature bar every time which makes a simple process into quite a long fiddly one. So I always tune unloaded and find I only have to make very slight adjustments to hit the right figures when loaded. There is no right or wrong way with regards to tuning loaded or unloaded it’s just personal preference really. Hope this helps and thanks for watching!
Hey Jono! Really appreciative and grateful of your videos, very informative and helpful. Quick question - when you tune a coil machine, should it matter if it's being tuned without tube and needle? I ask, because after i tuned mine, i set up tube and needle, prep for a piece and i got a very different readings! Same clipcord and power supply was used for initial tuning... any thoughts?? Thanks again!!
You ultimately want to aim for those figures when the machine is ‘loaded’ with the needle. I tune unloaded because it’s quicker and then just make a few adjustments after it’s loaded. Hope this helps!
@@JonoSmithTattoo hello Jono, thanks for your videos, I also tune unloaded easily. But when I put the needle, it is impossible for me to reach 130 cps, the maximum I get is 100 cps (with 50% duty). Should I put a harder rear spring? Thank you
Loving the knowledge in the videos. i really appreciate your honest work. Question. Having trouble finding a Power supply that tells me the duty and the speed, where do you recommend i buy my equipment ive waited for you to mention any good machine companies but hasnt yet happened. So can the machine be tuned without this readings at all?. thank you for everything hope you see this! Cheers!
This is a great video!!! I'll practice tuning while watching it this afternoon. Is it the same procedure for a shader? Thank you a lot and cheers from Mexico!
I've been trying to tune my cheap eBay chicky-chonky machine but can't get the speed to go higher than 92 with the duty at 48-50%. Thats the best it will do and if I close the gap any more to speed it up then I can't get any needle to stick out. I'm not a tattoo artist and don't intend on being one, just got it to tattoo the odd small star on my wife's arm once per year. Thanks for the info though.
NormaLarry Moreno yes if you don’t have one you can use the old method and it will put you in the right ballpark but obviously there’s no way of checking the duty doing it this way.
The sound at 16:26 on the fully tuned machine sounds as tough the armature bar wouldn't have contact with the coils when moving down. As if it would just partially move.
I need help my machine is perfect tuned with 130cpm and 50% duty like in your video, but when I put the needle in its totally different and I’m not able to match them again, what can I do? Thanks I love ur videos!
Thank you so much for all your videos! I've been learning to tattoo for a few years and found all your vids a ton more helpful and learnt more than I have elsewhere! 🖤🖤🖤 Ps. Could I ask what machines/stencil stuff/inks/supplies you would recommend? 😁 thank You!
@@JonoSmithTattoo Hey J0no, I'm looking for your hurricane hp2 online, it's affordable, but some say it's crap ;-) but I can't find much powersupplies that show all the info to tune te machine right. How to tune a machine without these numbers ? Thanks a lot !!
This really helped me get my liner dialled in, my question is what are ballpark cps figures for shader machines? Edit:just seen you answered my question on another comment 90-100 cps. Thankyou for the content jono it's a great help
You also set tension by bending your back spring by bending it up..also spring thickness...this would be done without the contact screw and front post on you bend the armature bar upward to create the gap between the bottom of abar and top of the coils....this matters as well...also a machine loses between 15 to 20 on it's speed unloaded..so your unloaded machine runs at 130..it really runs at 120 to 115.....there are many variables...spring thickness..front spring as well angle softness....way more than some of this.
super helpful bro seriously thank you thank you infectious personality as well which i've found to be very important to whose videos I end up sticking through without getting bored ;)
Awesome. thank you so much for the reply. That really helped. Just another query regarding the same. so if I convert to a liner to a shader or vice versa does the number of wraps on the coil matter? and what would be the advisable number of wraps on the coils be? and when you say "shader" does it also mean "color packer" or does a color packer need a different type of setup? I'm planing to buy just one machine and change the binding post position and the springs to use as sort of like a "do it all" type of a machine if that is even possible or should I go for two separate machines(liner and shader)? sorry I'm bugging you with these questions, it's just that the way you explain make a lot of sense and I can understand very easily from you. you're the best at explaining stuff!
So with regards to wraps, basically the bigger the wrap the more powerful the machine. So a colour packer running large mags & liners would be suited for a 10 wrap coil where as an 8 wrap coil would be more suited for running small to medium liners. When I say ‘shader’ I mean shader & colour packer because I basically use the same setup for shading as I do for colour packing. With regards to an ‘all in one machine’, in theory you could do this with either a shader or a liner and just adapt your technique to be able to use the same machine for everything but personally I think if you’re using coil machines it’s much better to have 2 machines, one a dedicated liner and one a dedicated shader/colour packer. Hope this helps!
What about when you get the duty percentage exactly at 50% without any tube or needle attached, but then when you DO attach the tube and the needle, it dramatically changes the duty? It is such a pain trying to work through this because you have to take everything apart to do the adjustments, but those adjustments do not stay the same once you put it all back together.
yet another brilliant video, answering questions whose answers are increasingly hard to find if you have no other teacher available. Thank you so much for your contributions Jono. One question I do have though; when you show the machine running perfectly at the end, I was wondering - wouldnt the bag over the machine and the needle bar being attached to the armature actually add a little stress to the load, therefore making it run differently once it has the needle and everything else set up? Thanks in advance... and if you dont get around to answering, thanks anyway for the videos. they are wonderfully informative.
simon park thanks for the awesome feedback! To answer your question, when the needle is not attached, it’s known as ‘unloaded’ and when it’s attached it’s known as ‘loaded’. I always tune unloaded because it can take loads of time having to remove the needle every time an adjustment needs to be made. When the machine is in tune unloaded, it will go slightly out of tune when you load it but it only takes a few minor tweaks to get it back in tune once once loaded. The bag doesn’t affect the tuning as it’s not touching any moving parts. So to sum it up, you want to be aiming for these figures when your machine is loaded but it’s easier and quicker to tune it unloaded first. Thanks for watching!
@@JonoSmithTattoo thanks so much for clearing that up, the technical aspects of tattooing are mostly impossible to get answers about online usually. and thank you for uploading! what you're doing is truly appreciated. it's impossible for an artist to get an apprenticeship here in the uk as a tattooist, I have tried everywhere in years gone by. Since hitting my thirties I just decided to start learning for myself, using practice skins and the like. hope you have a great day!
A bit late but I wanted to make sure I can assemble and tune a coil machine before I went for an apprenticeship... I just got a digital power supply and by ear I managed to get 125 cps and 44% duty😅 made my late step-dad proud 🥲 (he never got to finish his apprenticeship but was still always decorating fruit and leather. I guess you never forget the sound of a singing coil machine ❤ Thank you for providing amazing information ❤
Dude, you are the most informative I have watched yet... great work, keep it up, That said, are you better off having a front and back spring then a one piece spring?
Thanks for the comment! Yes it’s best to have separate front and back springs as you’ll usually have different gauges depending on what your machine is setup for.
Martin B I always tune without the needle attached just because it’s quicker, then I ‘load’ the machine and make any necessary tweaks to hit the same figures.
