PNUMATIC "who knew?" lightend up the art

how many tattoo artist are ready 2 switch over ? askd around n oldschool was still 99%

A lot of the guests at Off the Map Tattoo are switching or have switched. not all, but a suprising number. Maybe 50%.

I think I sorta side with FK alot on this one( meaning once there's alot more room for personal adjustments to fit style it'll be a 100 times worth it. I'd still like to get one soon though , those things are gonna be priceless relics to guys like me in about ,who knows 15-20 years or so. And hopefully by then he'll have improved upon his idea greatly by that time. But it's like alot of people have already said and will most likely continue to say. It's been a long long time since anyone's come up with anything worth changing our old ways for.

After a brainwashing by Johnny Berrios and company I went ahead and ordered 3 Neumas. My station is hooked up. It's fun to combined both machines during. I Do my lines with my FK Pyro. Can't get the same quality of lines with the neumas (yet) To me it's a cool gear worth the try. Bottom line, they are just another tool that relies on the artist's hand to perform. Light weight is a key feature. Lack of tuning may be just subject to get used to it. Not a bad thing necessarily. Both machines have their dark and bright side. I don't see switching for life any time soon. The neumas will take any artist a few tattoos to get used to. Tattooing with them is different and fun.

Jer, you use your hand to adjust your motions, not relying on different tunings of different machines. Meaning you can do the same things, only you rely on your hand and not the machine. Carson is working out tweaks to squash all the flak, but you can see from the work produced by the machines that they can do anything, its all about the artist and if they want lightweight autoclave-able tune free machines...

The last comment of Gabe shows how little he knows about tattooing. Motion has noting to do with compression, stroke length, and a bunch of other things old school artist love from coil machines. Neumas are fancy rotaries, with the difference that with rotary machines you can adjust stroke by changing the shaft and you still use your conventional power supply.

From machines I've seen and rebuilt,being able to autoclave is not high on the priority list for A LOT of artist list.No doubt the design is inovative.would be nice if they bagged them and wiped them down once in a while

Dumbbiatch, I dont profess to know a ton about tattooing, but I know a little. Of course not tattooing, there are some technical aspects I need to rely on what I hear from artists. Im lucky to hear a lot of opinions from a lot of artists. I always suggest people get lots of opinions on anything, especially if they are gonna listen to me, ha. Not to nit pick, but your case for me not knowing these technical aspects being proof about how little I know in general is very weak. I can try to re-phrase myself when explaining the hand motion thing (I'll be careful, Im trying to remember the conversations perfectly here...). because the neumas dont have different tunings, you rely on your hand to achieve the same effects with the same machine. Basically, everything you can do with a half dozen differently tunes machines, you *can* do with one when you train you hand to achieve those effects. For instance, to the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, there is no such thing as a neuma shader and a neuma liner. Artist learn how to line and shade with the same machine, different air pressure maybe, but definitely the same machine. there is adjusting, most people need to adjust to lining, but once they "get it" they get it and then some people have tended to switch over completely because of their appreciation for all the other advantages. when I ask the artists who have switched about the problems not being able to adjust the stroke length, inevitably they all shrug and say, eh, its not really a problem. I do know that that issue is being addressed to help people who are not switching because of stroke length, but so far none of the artists who use them that I asked had a real problem adjusting. Same thing with a foot switch, many folks ran them without for years, but they now offer one for people who want to keep as much of the same routine as possible. Hotspark, your smarter than that... why would you bag and wipe a machine thats going right into the autoclave when its done before being reused with another client??? That doesnt make any sense, and thats the whole point about the machine being cleaner because it goes through the autoclave. You bag and wipe coil machines cause thats the best you can do to clean it, and it is clean, theres obviously no question about that. In any event, when a neuma will be used for more than one tattoo without being autoclaved, its always bagged and wiped. there are fewer nick and cranies in the neuma too, ack, sorry, couldnt resist. hey, I dont tattoo, and could care less what artists use to do their tattoos. Im friends and business partners with both carson and many coil machine builders. People can tattoo with single use sticks disposed of properly for all I care. What I focus on is the quality of the tattoo, and that always comes down to the artists talent... and personality, and disposition, and intelligence, ability to adapt, etc, etc.

I was just talking about the nasty conditions of coil machines I've seen and that they should be bagged and wiped.That said what I'm saying is this:While being autoclavable is great I don't believe it would get done very often.I think it's a cool machine.I would like to take one apart ;P Last nights post was fueled by barley & hops............if this mornings doesn't make sense I have no excuse.

I was just talking about the nasty conditions of coil machines I've seen and that they should be bagged and wiped.That said what I'm saying is this:While being autoclavable is great I don't believe it would get done very often.I think it's a cool machine.I would like to take one apart ;P Last nights post was fueled by barley & hops............if this mornings doesn't make sense I have no excuse.

After reviewing my double post I'm still experiencing some side effects.......disregard my babbling.Ugh!

ha, friday night posts and all. Yes, machines can get pretty narley, and you bet that the neumas get autoclaved if they arent bagged, and bagged if they arent autoclaved. That happens religously. But the fact is if the machine is put right into the autoclave after use (and thats the routine in many cases) then they dont need to be bagged and wiped. I wouldn't be surprised if many artists wiped em too, but I dunno bout that. You would like to take it apart! as a machinist you would probably like it... Come on up sometime and we have one you can take apart...

I’m thinking of switching one of my rooms to this air powered machine for only one reason to help train new artist, I’m figuring if we remove the tuning process of a coil machine then our apprentice can learn to tattoo without having to learn one of the hardest steps to master. Or am I missing something ?

I’m thinking of switching one of my rooms to this air powered machine for only one reason to help train new artist, I’m figuring if we remove the tuning process of a coil machine then our apprentice can learn to tattoo without having to learn one of the hardest steps to master. Or am I missing something ?

I've been soaking mine in metacide after each tattoo for 15 minuts before I jump the the next tattoo. At the end of the day they get autoclaved. The power hose is cheap as hell no need to bag it. Dispose after each tattoo.

Josey, as you know, you really shouldnt be tattooing with a tool that you dont fully understand how to adjust. You really should know all the pieces parts, what each does, and how tweaking them effects the whole machine. I was under the understanding (and the guy who knows how little I know can correct me) but it could take a year of hard study to learn how to properly tune machines and many artists still never really "get it". The neumas run the same every time you pick em up (so Ive been told) and you can guess for yourself how much time learning a much simpler tool would save someone learning from scratch.

I agree Gabe tuning is one of the hardest task to Master, I find myself frustrated trying to teach someone to tattoo who can’t grasp the tuning mechanics involved in the Tattoo machine. Now I didn’t miss the comment about understanding the parts & purpose of the tool you are using before learning to tattoo, But to understand “ tuning “ you must also understand “ Tattooing “ to further exercise this skill, it’s kinda a catch 22. ( IMO ) You have to learn both aspects equally while training. Some people no matter how artistic have a hard time learning this very important step, Of course if this new machine removes that step. The success rate of apprentices to artist should improve especially for the women. In a lot of cases this one step is what divides amateur looking work from clean work. LOL This reads like a advertising angle for the machine maker….. I think I will give it a try, unless someone here can point out something I don’t know or understand about these machines. I can still use disposable factory sealed & sterilized tubes & needles correct ? Nice to read ya Gabe, Hope your new year is great and profitable.

I have to agree with Josey an awful lot on this one. The only other "professional" shop I've worked at minus my own , I walked into knowing more about how my machines worked than most if not all the people working there already. It was a bit discouraging to see "professional" artists tattooing without so much as a clue as to how their machines worked. Or for that matter how to adjust their machines to work for and with them. Removing that aspect of the learning process would most definately allow a new comer to concentrate on the mechanics of application rather than the mechanics of tool tuning and maintenance. Gimme a few months I'll probably give it a shot. Right now I'm kinda playing with my own machine building and getting my shop off the ground.

Josey, thanks for the good wishes, of course they are returned. Profitable would be nice, I think it'll be another year before the TattooNOW system is fully realized and functioning the way it should... Hopefully the convention, co-hosted by neuma for the sake of disclosure, will be the momentum we need as our processes are getting pretty tight finally. We have some great helpboard on thesedays! Tuning has to be learned at the same time as the application, yes, that makes complete sense. Its also refreshing to hear such open minded opinions from artists who have been at it for a long time... As for learning to tattoo on the neumas, I am wholeheartedly suggesting it to our apprentice, who has done a few practice tattoos on fake and pig skin with coil machines. But I imagine he will be trying the neumas soon enough and running with em. Its pretty cool, he is learning from a lot of different artists. I hope he makes the transition!

Achieving the perfect tuning on a machine is orgasmic

my 2 cents It is a complete catch 22 b/c every artist works differently and needs to tune his/her machines to suit their specific needs. When I build my machines i won't even tune them for someone else. There should be no reason why an artist should not know how their machines work and what the adjustments do the how they run. I can understand where gabe is coming from saying that the neuma's need the artists hands to achieve different effects from the machine. What one can tune a traditional coil machine to do still needs to train his hand to use it. I frequently use machines i've tuned for different purposes to do things i never intended them for, meaning i'll use a machine i've tuned for packing color to do soft black and gray shading to get rid of the "stippling" affect. Having said that I would love to try out the neuma's and holding my bachelors in industrial design and having worked as a mechanical engineer i would love to take one apart and see how it is run, i have ideas in my head but cannot say definitively. I've seen what they can do and even just watching and artist work with one would be a treat. Will anyone be using them at the Philadelphia convention this year???

Hmm, Dan Henk will be there. Dunno if anyone else... There will be lots of neumas at the Tattoo Gathering in far western mass this fall, Neuma Tattoo Machines is a co-host.

Hey Gabe, You said that if the Neuma is being claved it doesn't need to be bagged or wiped. I just thought it should be mentioned that anything you put in a clave needs to first be *cleaned* of any gross filth. Not calling you out, just thought it should be clarified.