Power supply for tattoo machines

[CJay]

They never told me trashing my skin with suspect toxic paint that would look like spattered swamp mud in a few years would be "essential to survival"

Never claimed they were 'essential to survival' (though there are medical tattoos offered after certain surgeries), my point was that if you've ever had surgery that wasn't life saving then you've contradicted your own claim 'Mum and Dad did the best they could, as did their parents for them. '

And I respect your choice not to have tattoos as well, my entire point is that it's personal choice, some people want them, some don't, each to their own.

As you say, body art debates are unwinnable, everyone has different opinions and that's what makes humanity great, our diversity, but insulting those who have differing opinions is called bigotry so suggesting, as one person did, that electric shock therapy would be a good way to 'clear the shit out of their brains' just shows them up as a small minded bigot.

So, can we keep this on subject and can the insults please?

[P90]

They never told me trashing my skin with suspect toxic paint that would look like spattered swamp mud in a few years would be "essential to survival"

Never claimed they were 'essential to survival' (though there are medical tattoos offered after certain surgeries), my point was that if you've ever had surgery that wasn't life saving then you've contradicted your own claim 'Mum and Dad did the best they could, as did their parents for them. '

And I respect your choice not to have tattoos as well, my entire point is that it's personal choice, some people want them, some don't, each to their own.

As you say, body art debates are unwinnable, everyone has different opinions and that's what makes humanity great, our diversity, but insulting those who have differing opinions is called bigotry so suggesting, as one person did, that electric shock therapy would be a good way to 'clear the shit out of their brains' just shows them up as a small minded bigot.

So, can we keep this on subject and can the insults please?

a small minded bigot without tattoos mind you...         :-)

[CJay]

a small minded bigot without tattoos mind you...         :-)

As you say 

[Electro Detective]

Even kids getting face painting have better sense (and fun) than the poorer pin pricked suckers doing their dough to look like mobile graffiti

The kids wash the paint off and have their faces back

Tattoo victims will soon be forking out for tattoo removals,

and doctors bills for cheap tattoos gone south causing infections and blood poisoning

The expensive and painful bleeding addiction turns them into junkies, i.e. more tattoos till the money or skin real estate runs out 

It's not bigotry, it's pointing out the obvious that many people are miserable and easily led on to drop their dough on ludicrous appearance enhancement. 

Tattoo vendors are raking in the cash, many are now way past millionaire status, 
they should seriously consider buying a UPS to support a decent PSU   

to keep the cash and 'body art' suckers rolling in 24/7   

   

[Zero999]

Even kids getting face painting have better sense (and fun) than the poorer pin pricked suckers doing their dough to look like mobile graffiti

The kids wash the paint off and have their faces back

Tattoo victims will soon be forking out for tattoo removals,

and doctors bills for cheap tattoos gone south causing infections and blood poisoning

The expensive and painful bleeding addiction turns them into junkies, i.e. more tattoos till the money or skin real estate runs out 

It's not bigotry, it's pointing out the obvious that many people are miserable and easily led on to drop their dough on ludicrous appearance enhancement. 

Tattoo vendors are raking in the cash, many are now way past millionaire status, 
they should seriously consider buying a UPS to support a decent PSU   

to keep the cash and 'body art' suckers rolling in 24/7   

   

That's a generalisation. There are some who have gone over the top with tattoos to the point where it has a negative impact on their health and well-being but they're in the minority. Most people will have one or two tattoos, then stop. The same goes for gambling, drinking etc.

As far as tattoos are concerned, I don't like them (especially the big ones) but banning them would be draconian.

Absolutely, I'm somewhere to the left of green when it comes to personal liberties but liberty always comes with the price of responsibility for your own actions, many tattoos are not to my personal taste but they're a very personal thing to the owner, criticism like we've seen in this thread is, in my opinion, rather small minded.

Anyway, back on track, yes, tattoo power supplies should be medical grade isolation but I'd say the vast majority of the cheap units out there just aren't, I would find it very hard to believe you can build a medical grade device for the prices they charge (under £15 for some of the cheapest).

As far as the requirements of the PSU go, I would think regulation isn't one of the highest, the guns are most often a fairly simple armature device so current availability and limiting is most important as that determines the movement range of the needle.

Adjustment range tends to be fairly wide, fine work requires lower power so it's really about the artist getting used to their tools just as we need to get used to our soldering irons etc.

I wonder if decent quality SMPS run off an isolation transformer would suffice? That way, there would be two layers of separation from the mains. As it's only low power, a 100VA should be enough, even when the fact that a small SMPS might not have a great power factor is taken into account.

[Simon]

Can we keep this discussion technical please. As for having or not having tattoos each to their own!

[Seaofdep]

thank you Simon , i was about to say that everyone is entited to their opinion but in this forum it should just be left at the door and put tech before it and help. i updated the post with a picture any one know if its decent quality to make a variable supply out of it?

[Simon]

Any decent SMPS will do, distributors like farnell or RS should carry decent ones with plenty of technical information.

[Seaofdep]

i have not had any luck finding any information on  a psu with only +12v and  +52v lines  into variable supply .thank you for the help. im just starting out and i appreciate any and all advice

[Zero999]

from what i can tell and experiencdd the "tattoo community" is money driven and could care less about anything else ... i just have a delta 200pb 185a/ ac in:100v-240v ~3.5a max coninuios:190w dc output: +12v 5a +52v 2.5a . and  a few potentiometers a voltagemeter ,female jack connectors . aboard with a lm317 and another wih lm2756s and random other.. and wondering if possible with these items will i be able to make myself a variable power supply?

You could add a variable buck regulator, such as the LM2679, to the 12V 5A rail but why not get an adjustable 5V power supply in the first place?
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm2679.pdf

[P90]

MS13 members have tattoos

[Seaofdep]

im going to buy one when i have the money to spend  but either way thought it would be cool to make one as a project  and  since i have these things laying around with no use why not make one lol, maybe learn a thing or two . and okay thanks for the link by any chance since i have them already, would a lm317 or lm2576 work (i also have some potentiometers .

[Electro Detective]

MS13 members have tattoos

Those dudes are tough cookies and wear that stuff as a brotherhood vibe
and handy indicator for fools to not mess with them. 

----------------

As an aside, it's become impossible to watch a good game of football over here

All one sees is tattoos painted on steroid pumped gumbies running and bumping everywhere like dodgem cars,
with the ball un-viewable or lost amongst all that fleshy grafitti    

I've given up on it, waiting for the cricket season   

[P90]

MS13 members have tattoos

Those dudes are tough cookies and wear that stuff as a brotherhood vibe
and handy indicator for fools to not mess with them. 

----------------

As an aside, it's become impossible to watch a good game of football over here

All one sees is tattoos painted on steroid pumped gumbies running and bumping everywhere like dodgem cars,
with the ball un-viewable or lost amongst all that fleshy grafitti    

I've given up on it, waiting for the cricket season   

I've given up on society in general...
kids covered in tattoos and public display of underwear... god help us...

[Electro Detective]

shortass  'gangstas'  sporting fully loaded diapers with their squeeky voiced females littering our streets are the scariest 


You can die laughing

[P90]

shortass  'gangstas'  sporting fully loaded diapers with their squeeky voiced females littering our streets are the scariest 


You can die laughing

Deportation is the answer.

[Electro Detective]

NASA needs to build bigger rockets

[P90]

NASA needs to build bigger rockets

It's cheaper to build that wall...

[Electro Detective]

NASA needs to build bigger rockets

It's cheaper to build that wall...

One way rockets don't need repairs, security, or donuts 

[P90]

NASA needs to build bigger rockets

It's cheaper to build that wall...

One way rockets don't need repairs, security, or donuts 

Touché
:-)

[floobydust]

LM317 does at best 1.5A but many PSU's are using them. It's a good place to start. You lose almost 2V with the IC though.
Tattoo machine coils are basically a tank circuit with a switch mechanical oscillator and 22uF-47uF non-polar electrolytic caps to set frequency.

These tattoo power supplies are basic but the psychology of them... have to look racy and because that means the artist is edgy etc.

Considering tattoos are taboo in china, lots of power supplies and gear for sale there, like aliexpress. $15 power supplies and $200 power supplies.

[Seaofdep]

its a personal machine and i already have a power supply   was told the quality will not work best with the quality of my power supply and i have noticed slight inconsistency with it . i will eventually by one . for now its some hands on learning experience truth and its parts and a psu  i dont use so why not . btw  i have a lm2576 s  will be better than lm317 i have them both . sorry for the newbie questions although i have the pdf i still like to ask

[Zero999]

its a personal machine and i already have a power supply   was told the quality will not work best with the quality of my power supply and i have noticed slight inconsistency with it . i will eventually by one . for now its some hands on learning experience truth and its parts and a psu  i dont use so why not . btw  i have a lm2576 s  will be better than lm317 i have them both . sorry for the newbie questions although i have the pdf i still like to ask

The LM2576 is your best bet.