Power supply

I am starting to buy tattooing supplies, and was wondering what type of power supply is best, digital read our or simple knob ones? What type of inks does anyone reccommend? Also are there any informative, educational websites that anyone can recommend as to history, gun workings, all time great artist? Thanks, Skiman

First off, let me appologize for bashing you are about to receive from multiple people here. 2nd, the qualifed artist your working under can answer these questions (Hint, hint: APPRENTICESHIP!!!) 3rd, the proper terminology is not "gun" it's machine, get it right and it will save a lot of headache. (And there will be fewer flares spewing from the artist's nostrils on here.)

Correction to my miss statement in my opeining question, Tattoo MACHINE, not gun, Sorry...no offence intended. I had an apprenticeship about 7 years ago, and go into tattooing only briefly because my daughter was just born as I was steping up and was spending too much time away from home at night when she was young and needed more money than the starting wages of a fresh new tattooist. Currently I am the Manager of a Car Stereo Shop, and am making a comfortable living, but I still have a passion for art and design, I don't want to return to the same Master for my apprenticeship. I believe that when I started out last time I didn't put my heart into it because of the pressure of having to make money, but now I some extra time in the eveings and an offer to apprentice from a nice local tattoo chain that is very well known in the area, Call "Electric Chair Tattoo". I want to be taken seriously and want to be informed so that I can ask the right questions, and not sound stupid or uninformed. Sorry if you guys think that an apprentice is the only way to go but with or without your help I will tattoo and I'll be good, get better, and always be safe and respectful of the art, there is a world of info out there if this isn't the right place I'll gladly keep looking. Thank you for those that offer help and sorry you feel that way to those who don't. Peace to all

I am not going to bash you. If you like the art, I will recommend you buy fake skin on ebay and tattoo as much as you want on it. They say it's like real skin. but do not try to put a single needle on someone if you don't have the experience. An apprenticeship will be the RIGHT way to begging doing things the RIGHT way. Meanwhile you can hit a few books regarding tattoo history. Danny Fowler has some technical info on his site. Since you are not ready to tattoo people any starter kit from ebay will do the trick and give you the kick. Also after having so much trouble with the shitty machines that these cheap kits offer you will get a good lesson regarding "why not to buy cheap machines when tattooing humans". There is a lot of technical info on the net, but you'll be ready to take the art seriously when you get training from a well established tattoo artist.

If you are looking for excellent power supplies, look no further than Eikon device. They are a top notch tattoo supplier that offer quality products to the professional artist. As for inks, it all depends on the style of work you do. There are many brands out there, some thick, some thin, some bright, some bold. I have found that most people prefer to take a few colors from one set and a few others from another set. There is starbrites, unique, intenze, milleniums, etc... As for sites for information on tattoo machine history, the internet is a wonderful resource. The beautiful thing about questions today is that anything and everything can be googled. Visit your local library if you feel really compelled. Just remember, with all things in the tattoo world, everything is a matter of personal preference. What works well for one person may not work for another. Take care and good luck to you, J

i have the ems200, and my mentor does two. we both have very different readings, becareful with them

bro regarding power supply I have a few custom made ones with no meter. I use my ears to select the right voltage, lol. It takes a while though.

you can use your ears if you know EVERYTHING about how to run a machine, a nice strobe isnt always a god measure on duty.

i would get a eikon ems200 or a pulse power supply. i would say those are the two best on the market right now.

I've found that lab type power supplys work best for my machines,and for some reason you can pick them up for about half the price of the above mentioned p.s.'.The lab styles are bigger and if you travel often that may be a consideration.You might drive yourself crazy with an Eikon trying to get the #s right.Get something with a minimum of ripple in the current(lab or medical).I'm going to try something with diodes on my next machine that could eliminate all the feedback from machine to supply.That's another topic.Good luck.

When a new person comes to this biz you will always find attitude i have found only a few that offer any good knowledge...But any ways trust in the good to bring you to the right spot,,and as a few of my friends would say DONT HATE do you really think that going off on some body is gonna help...They are gonna tattoo any way???Dont worry about the bitchy old men.. Just because there not happy in life anyways....go to eikon power supply...atimemachine.com or pulse...or any pro builder i recomend getting guns from one.. But needles and small stuff is good on e bay..Who you buy guns from you want to buy your power supply..and if i want to call it a WIENER a tattoo WIENER it dosent matter..wWE all know what were talking about .. but then again you got your little rich snotty art school student turned tattooist and you traditional ex con and your general artistic biker if i missed any thing please dont hesitate to correct me for the only thing that angers me is you non- willing-less to teach someone and still want to correct there words...

Lucky supply (www.luckysupply.com) sells top notch stuff, so does Eikon (www.eikondevice.com) and Workhorse Irons (www.workhorseirons.com) I was always told you get what you pay for. Stay away from "starter kits". Spend the money, get some good shit. Also spend the time to do as many line drawings as you can. I found out that doing line drawings with some basic pen ink and a #2 lining paint brush helps out a lot with your hand control. As for power supplies get the Eikon ems 200, the numbers on it will drive you crazy at first but it will help you in learning how to tune your machines. Have fun and good luck! -mike

check out www.criticaltattoo.com if you want the best power supply available for tattooing. They seem to have brought something fresh to the table.

Don't bother with Luchysupply.com unless you are an established artist in an established shop! Try a Freedom I or II for your power supply. They are second to none. As far as ink is concerned, give Waverly colors a try. I've never had a problem with them and the colors are so bright and awesome! Good luck, bro.

well i guess the power supply prob is really debatable i've had ny power supply for about 2yrs now and realy had no problem with it it was bought whit a kit from world wide tat supplys whit a foot gem peddal now the ped is giveing me prob's but not the power supply it's power is there when i need it so i guess if it's not broke don't fix it and as far as leaning no 1 person though me how to tat i was 15 when i got my first tat a cross on my back made my 1st gun from junk around the house been tating ever since i've got clintel from 2 to 3 states from me as you go along you do get better practice makes perfect do littel shit to get the hang of it and then it will click you'll see keep the ink flowing

anyone else have any info on the critical power supplys, they look pretty interesting

You could use a good pulse power supply to give constant amp and voltage output. The ears and experience does help for proper start off but once your machine hits the skin you get resistence and the ink doesn't go is as smooth, etc, etc. Yes Eikon is one machine, but you have the Cyclone 360 which isn't too expensive and has cylce counts, amps etc that can be visualized as you work.

I am a single mom to 2 kids! Times are hard and I have to make some extra money to keep us going, No art school, No jail time and I hate Bikes since my fiance was killed on one so I guess I am in a category all by my self! LOL I had an Analog power supply from a beginners tattoo kit! Power went out 33 days after I bought it, of course right after the warrenty went out! So I am hunting a new power supply myself but I was directed towards the Cyclone 360 from my artist! I am just messing around with it at home only friends and family, I want to go into a shop soon! Just timing as a single mom and making sure the bills get paid in transferring! If you figure out which is best let me know! Thanks!

First of all a real artist can tattoo with a fucking homade machine made out of a walkmen a pen and some other crap. If you can tune and understand what a machine does you can tune any machine to do the job, you dont need a $800 machine all you get i a expensive machine , you can tune a $5 machine to run the same. Now Eikon , allot of you guys like to say " o wrll eikon is just one guy and his thoughts on a machine ". NO WRONG eikon is a huge company that has done tests on a machine , they are FACTS , science , allot of great builders use a readout power supply to tune because the #s have a huge meaning in a tattoo machine, eikon is the best information out, all facts , i dont want to use his name. Ut a top builder uses one to tune , a tension gage is pointless to have unles checking a tuned machine to mark it to bring it back to where it was along with marking every other thing on the machine, spring gage, length, cap, coils, abar, angle of deflection, all of this must be the exact same on machine for a universal tension # in grams, FK himself has said this along with all professional tattoo builders and artists, dont be fooled by a scratcher on you tube, a readout power supply is the best tuning tool and shows facts about the machine and what its doing. Get eikons magazines 1-7 and there info on abars , springs, an get some dvds to learn from, eikon mags and a meter power supply together will be all you need. Get all of this on-line on a torrent site , you can get over $1000 of dvds for free on there. Get utorrent first then search with google for what you want or search a torrent site, every great tattooing dvd you can get for free, fuck paying so much for 5 mins of info and to watch another tattoo. Take this advice as i am a professional and sick of guys hating on themselves cause every artist has scratched at one point along with me. Learn to be clean, very easy , they make it seem like rocket science, it is not !!!!!!!!! Get the eikon mags , a readout supply with , speed , duty cycle, FT and volts, get a cheap one if you must. You can use that and see the science of your machine, what happens when you tweak something, every tweak will effect something and you will see this all in a simple glance at the #s , even for duty cycle , instead of taking minutes to see the ghost image for the cycey just look and thats that. An you can get duty cycle to a exact # by eye, you can not learn more anywhere else then from eikon and a readout supply. Took me years . Anyone tells you #s dont matter is a scratcher a pro who dont tune there own machine or they just dont want you to know the facts about machines and tuning, learn study and learn from everyone , try new stuff, good luck, practice makes perfect, most pros buy from builders tht tune, they k ow nothing of a machine and proper tuning to run its best, that is a fact, most will tell you they dont they focus on art ,i dont like telling some of my info that took me years to learn but with this crap on you tube i had to, do not watch you tune. Like tattootraining he is a scratcher who dont tattoo at all, he is not builder at all, my way comes from all professional in shops and pro builders , go ahead and research it good luck

First off whoever put the comment about apprenticeship, your a dipshit:) what did you get out of your apprenticeship? Prolly not to much.. bet my tats look 2 times better than your apprenticed bullshit. I work in a shop I'm licensed and I'm a mothafuckin beast! Your the dumbass for payin 8 grand for nothing keep livin your simple ass life while i ride the money train to the fuckin heaven brah.. old school who taught them a thought to ponder;)