can a machine burn out a power supply?

[fatcashdaddy]

one of my coworkers just got a rotary machine from a reputable builder (i won't mention their name yet, we wrote to them about this) and was tattooing a customer. He runs a hurricane power supply and outlined the tattoo with his coil machine. he then switched to this new rotary to color. the machine ran a bit then it started to slow down, then stopped altogether. The meters on the hurricane all read zero. he switched back to his coil machine and it wouldn't work either. he then switched to his backup power supply (another cheapy with just a voltmeter), hooked up his coil machine...no problem...

he then hooked up his rotary machine and it did the exact same thing it did to last supply, slowed down then stopped (the voltmeter again went to zero) and when he hooked his coil back up, it didn't work...


The really strange thing is, I have the same machine and I let him use it awhile back to see if he would like it and mine ran with no problems on his hurricane (thats why he bought the same machine). I also have another co worker who uses the hurricane and has the same machine. his runs perfectly on the hurricane...Also, the guy who is having problems used the machine just the day before without any problems..

Is this a capasitor problem with his machine or is it something else?

[The Limey]

Remove the capacitor and see if it runs ok then.

[Alie K]

There's also the fact that the Hurricane is a Chinese knockoff of a power supply. We all know how knockoffs go - even with those disposable machines. Get 5 of them, one is bound to be a dud. Maybe it's a bum power supply?

[fatcashdaddy]

thats what I thought at first but it did the exact same thing on 2 different power supplys...also, he used the machine yesterday with no problems and we have another guy running the same machine and the same power supply without any problems...he wanted to try it out on my power supply but I wouldn't let him,lol..incase it is the machine I don't want to blow out my custom supply..

[Alie K]

Oh, my bad. I read that wrong.

Yeah, seriously! You work so hard on them, having a machine burn it out would suck. Now, one of the members on here told me that when my coil machine slowed down and didn't want to work properly (though it never brought the numbers down to zero) that it may have been because of shitty coils magnetizing the frame. Could that be a possibility with the machines you've got? Could something be magnetizing both of them? Have any paper clips laying around? Did he change ANYTHING from the other day? Even using a different clipcord or something?

[JohnnyChaos]

I've seen the slowing down thing from one of the builders on here... also with a hurricane. But it didn't break it and works fine on my critical.

[otto]

this happens when the consumption of the motor is to high for the power supply
(speaking about the rotary machines).usually the power s. heats up and burns out

[fatcashdaddy]

what would cause the consumption of the machine to exceed the capabilities of the supply? the machine normally runs well under 10 volts and the supply is rated for 18 volts/2 amps

I was digging through my stuff and i found a talon power supply I bought a few years ago. I'm going to try that on the machine today. since talon is an american company and they make expensive tattoo power supply's we'll see if this machine burns that out...

[fatcashdaddy]

@ALie..I really wasn't paying attention to what he was doing so I'm going to take the machine myself today and in between appt.s run it through its paces and see whats up...

[otto]

the voltage is not a big factor,but the amps that the motor requires to work,or maybe something was blocking the motor and that leads to a higher voltage and amps needed for normal runing

[fatcashdaddy]

thanks otto. that helps alot. I will be tinkering with it today...

[fatcashdaddy]

ok, I spent the day and when i say spent the day, I mean it took me all of 10 minutes to figure this out..first, my coworkers supply bit the dust on him (it was a cyclone 360 not a hurricane, sorry). his backup supply, which he said also broke down, didn't. it was working just fine, it just wouldn't run the rotary. second, his clipcord was bad. third, he had 3 tight rubberbands on the machine and was running it way too high (to compensate for the extra rubberbands). he said he did that because the day before he broke a rubberband on the machine and he didn't want it to happen again (D'OH!)...

I ran the machine on my custom supply...no problems... ran it on the talens supply...no problem...I have a real cheap supply I use to test my footswitches with, I ran it with that...not only didn't I have any problems but the machine ran best on this supply....ran it on another coworkers old eikon 200...ran like shit...ran it on another coworkers technical power supply...no problems...

[Administrator]

Time to sell this guy on a custom power supply Thom. :)

[rotaryworks]

Mm was this my machines ?I don't mind if anyone has problems with my machine post up so all can see I'm happy so all know I hide nothing I'm glad you sorted it thom just to let you all know Chinese power sup don't like my machines and some eikon ps don't like my machines some old digital the same ....I hope to solve any problem if I can or as much help from you guys as poss to make a better machine so I thank all of you on here for all your info and trouble solving ideas much respect ...one last thing I is a Tattooist so if I buy a machine and I have a problem I want it solved then I have been a bit slow thus week as I'm away so only sign in now then anyways I try to be as fast as poss for everyone ...many thanks all for your support many thanks again Dale

[fatcashdaddy]

dale, i didn't post that it was your machine because I had a feeling it was my knucklehead co-worker and not your machine. I was afraid if I posted it was a rotaryworks some would mistakenly think it was a machine issue and I didn't want any bad reviews to come back on you unneccessarily. And I was right, it was my co-worker and not the machine. I tattooed him with it today and used an 18 needle liner in the machine and it performed flawlessly...

Alie, thats exactly what i did,lol...

[rotaryworks]

Good to hear I'm glad you sorted it ...it's alway some thing simple that go wrong it is a pain ...,many thank again Dale ...

[stumpy]

m8 i had exactly the same power supply and exactly the same pronlem ythose bloody hurricane supplies are cheap i switched power supply to a kingpin dual control power paqck and i have to say my rotarys have never run so well . ditch the cheapo power supply .

[peter clements]

m8 i had exactly the same power supply and exactly the same pronlem ythose bloody hurricane supplies are cheap i switched power supply to a kingpin dual control power paqck and i have to say my rotarys have never run so well . ditch the cheapo power supply .

"Kingpin" always nice gear. I see on that PS you can attach two clipcords, I don't see the advantage there, but whatever, I've no doubt it's a good solid PS.

[sneekers]

ive been reading through this thread,i to at this moment am experiencing the exact same thing.switch power supply on.(check).power supply gives a read out,ok.plug in machine,ok.press foot switch the reading backs right off and goes to zero??no smoke from power supply,opened it up no wires burn't out,swapped and changed all wires clipcords foot switch,cant understand it?i figured if the power supply was burn't out it woudnt even show a reading,so what do you mean when you say magnetizing the frame?? : (

[Administrator]

Are you using a Coil or Rotary machine? What is the power supply you are using?

[sneekers]

hi,im only using rotaries,and its a twin output liner shader power supply by precision.i figure magnetised is the motor on the machine ?which it is(magnetised).
when i press the foot pedal i can kinda feel the power going into the machine,but it seems to be running in reverse?the digital reading goes from 8V to 0.???

[Administrator]

It looks like this?

http://www.precisiontattoo.com/assets/images/power-supply2_med.jpg

[fatcashdaddy]

does this happen with all your machines?..do you own several different types of rotary's from several different builders? what I have found is two things. 1. it might be the motors in your machine (as dale has said). the power requirement to run the machine may be too high for your power supply and 2. it sounds like there is a draw on the power supply. I get this sometimes with one of my machines. it runs fine and then out of nowhere the light on my power supply dims down and the voltage drops.Its either a big draw (surge in current) or something is grounding out...I also found this alot when I ran needle runners, there was friction in the tube and the needle wouldn't flow easily, the whole set up would overload and stop running (I'm assuming it was because it was a high RPM but low torque motor and didn't have the oomph to push through the friction.) you can see this by grabbing the cam and holding it from spinning then step on your footpedal and you should see the same result, the voltage will drop,the on/off light will dim or even go out...

[sneekers]

2697

[sneekers]

jeez!!!! its late over here ok sorry,this is the supply i use,i usually have it hooked with both liner and shader and have never had any problems,i use three rotaries on a regular basis(liner is rca,and shader is clip cord)like i said when i press the foot pedal the readout drops to zero right across the board,i can spin the motor of my shader and it spins!theres no resistance from the motor,ive changed every wire(rca,clipcord,pedal and power)with no joy,i figured i would ask you guys if any1 has had the same trouble,before i take it outside and drive over it!!!! :-)

[onechance]

had the same problem with cheap one's... now i run critical or eikon one's.. no problem