How to Make a Homemade Tattoo Gun

You will learn how to make a homemade tattoo gun, using household items.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bic ball point ink pen
• 2 Bic lighters (1 working 1 not working
• portable cassette player
• 1 rubberband
• electric tape (black)

1. Have all the items handy. Disassemble the ball point pen. Take the tube containing the ink out and use the lighter to heat the ink while in the tube.( do this by holding the flame directly on the tube going back and forth until the ink is heated enough to drain out of the tube.) Wash out the tube to get all the excess ink out. Throw the drained ink away.

2. Pull the ball point tip out of the , now clean, tube. Leave the tip, only remove the ball point.

3. Reassemble the pen, put the empty, clean tube with tip back in the pen case. Take out the metal part of the lighter that the butane comes out of and place into the part of the pen that the ball point came out of.

4. Take the ball point pen cap and cut the enclosed part( the part without the clip) leave about a quarter inch of the cap. You will then have a quarter inch long cap plus clip.

5. Take the lighter and heat up the clip part on the cap. Heat it enough to bend the clip out. (VERTICAL)

6. Take the motor out of the portable cassette player, keep the plastic case for making homemade ink. Mount the motor to the ink pen cap using the rubber band. Keep the shaft of the motor even with the cap hole.

7. You will need to now make a wheel for the shaft of the motor using a bottle cap. You will have to cut the bottle cap so that it is round and flat ( like a flat circle). Carve a hole in the center of the cut bottle cap, big enough to fit snug on the shaft of the motor. Then heat of the end of a sewing needle and melt a hole offset of the first hole for the motor shaft.

8. Take the spring out of the non working lighter. Hold the spring with both hands, while someone else heat the spring (moving the lighter back and forth horizontally) while you stretch the spring. The spring needs to be straight when you are done heating and stretching.

9. Snip off about and 1/8 inch of the straight spring and sharpen the end you cut with sandpaper or wet rock. (Needs to be sharpened like a needle)

10. Take the sharpened spring and guide it into the back of the ink pen, into the clear tube, until it comes out of the tip of the pen.

11. Leave about 2/16 inches of the spring out of the tip of the pen. Then turn the wheel so that the offset hole is lined up with the pen. Bend the end of the needle into a backwards L shape and put it inside the offset hole.

12. Then all you need is power to operate it. ( A 9volt battery or universal adapter)

Tips & Warnings

• Ink may stain
• Looks may vary
• gun may need adjusting

[hellcatmolly]

on 10/29/2009 Again, this is absolutely appalling. Get a real apprenticeship, and learn how to do this the right way.

[rusd3]

on 9/10/2009 This brings back memories from when I was in Job Corps. Thanks for the great homemade tattoo gun article.