A tattoo apprentice practices the art of tattooing with a machine recommended by a mentor. Once the apprenticeship is over, the new tattoo artist chooses and purchases a tattoo machine to complement his style and technique. Tattoo artists have collections of tattoo machines, ranging from owning just a pair to 200, for performing different styles, like traditional or Japanese. Tattoo artists also collect tattoo machines for sentimental reasons, purchasing but not performing tattoos with machines from industry legends, such as Sailor Jerry or Ed Hardy.
Coil Machines
The coil tattoo machine runs on electromagnets that feed off power through a power supply. Two types of coil machines are necessary for performing a tattoo, a liner and a shader. Liners perform outlines of tattoos, and shaders provide color, shading and details to the tattoo. Shaders are the larger and more powerful of the two machines, allowing a tattoo artist to color larger areas of skin, such as a tattoo back piece, in one sitting.
Coil machines consist of components such as wrapped coils, armature bars, springs, binding posts and contact screws. Encased in heavy metals such as brass or iron, coil tattoo machines cannot be cleaned in an autoclaved, which uses heat for for sterilization. Tattoo artists spray coil machines with a hospital level germicidal spray to reduce the risk of disease transmission. A tattoo apprentice experiences taking apart and tuning a coil machine to grasp the technical side of tattooing.
Rotary
A rotary performs the jobs of a liner and shader in one machine. Unlike coil machines, a rotary machine is lightweight, slightly under four ounces, which alleviates pressure on an artist's wrist while tattooing. The noise level of a rotary machine is significantly lower than coil machines. The loud, buzz like noise of coil machines frequently frightens tattoo clients, so some tattoo artists prefer rotary machines for a calmer ambiance.
Manufacturers proclaim that no tuning is necessary with a rotary machine, therefore providing tattoo artists more time to focus on drawing and tattooing. Some rotary machines come with a refillable cartridge, or tip, which is a concern for tattoo artists. Cross contamination or transmitting blood borne pathogens is possible if the tip provided is not autoclaved or changed after each tattoo.
Neuma Machine
Tattoo artist Carson Hill invented pneumatic tattoo machines in 2000, introducing a new type of tattoo machine to the industry. A pneumatic tattoo machine runs off an air compressor and can be sterilized in and autoclave. Pneumatic machines offer the cleanest option.
Neuma introduced a hybrid model, a pneumatic and electric machine, in 2009 that releases an antimicrobial agent when the machine is exposed to liquid, protecting the machine from absorbing blood borne pathogens, while giving the tattoo artist the option of running the machine on electricity or air.
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