How to Put a Tattoo Machine Together

Video Transcript

"The steps in putting a tattoo machine together for operation are as follows. You are going to have several pieces of equipment before you. You are going to have a pre-sterilized needle, one sterilized tube which the needle slides in, the machine itself, not a gun, the machine itself, an eye loop or a strong magnifier and your power supply. Your first step is going to be to get your needle and tube out of the packages and that should be done carefully because if you don't take this out of here rather carefully you can damage the needle so if you open it up from your eye loop end then just slide the needle out very carefully, set your packaging off to the side. Once you have got your needle out you can set it to the side and then take your tube out of this package and set your package off to the side. Before you load, I'm putting together an out liner here, before you load the out liner you want to go down to where the needle is soldered on to the bar and just give the needle a very light bend downward just flex it just so that it is not on the same plane as the needle bar any more. The reason for this I'll explain to you a little bit later on. Once you have got that done you want to hold your tube so that the reservoir, the tube tip is facing away from you, very carefully so you don't ding the tips of these needles, slide the needle into the tube and then when you get right to the tip you have got to be very careful to center it and then let it drop right through the tube tip. Then you'll have a needle and tube assembly and when the needle is in the tube that is a needle and tube assembly. Now when you are placing the needle and tube assembly into the machine you will hold the tube by the grip, take your index finger, secure the needle so that it doesn't slide up or down inside the tube, push it up through the tube vice, the loop of the needle bar first and then very carefully make sure your tube vice is loose, slide your tube up into the bottom of the tube vice and secure it. You want to make sure you have got this tube secured in the vice here because you are going to have to, you can see I don't have a grommet on my armatured bar so I am going to have to put a grommet together out of a paper towel which is what I prefer to use. Once you have got that secured lay your machine down, you'll tear off a little bit of the corner of a paper towel, some people use tape, some people use hockey tape, some people use just regular medical tape. I use paper towels because I like to fold them and get the needle bar really snug on the armature bar. If you folded that piece of squared paper towel and place it on the tip of your armature bar, hold it in place with your thumb and forefinger, then apply the eye loop of the needle bar on to that paper towel and push it down until it is nice and tight, nice and snug and give it just a little light check to make sure it is on there nice and tight. Once you have done that take your rubber bands from the top of the machine, bring them down across the needle bar, give them a little stretch and a pop and make sure they are not twisted and that they are as far down on the needle bar as possible. Now I want to come back to where I was talking about bending the needle when I first showed you the needle bar. The reason you do that is when you put the tube and you slide the tube down to adjust your needle depth which is what I'm doing now you want that tip of that tube or that needle to be riding at the V of your tube tip. If you don't get at that little bend your needles will be up in the center and it is going to cause your needle to wobble a bit back and forth so make sure when you take your needle out of the packet that you give that needle just a little bit of a bend downward so that it is riding in the very V at the bottom of your tube tip. Once you have got the needle tube secured in the tube vice, loosen it up, slide it up or down until just the very tip of your needle is sticking out of the tube tip, tighten the tube vice down, attach your flip cord and you are ready to go. Once you have got your flip cord attached you have got a foot switch that actually turns the power on and off of your machine."