The Treasure Chest by Tattooed Pirate

[Sarenity Tattoo]

Okay, so it;s been two days since i received my Treasure chest machine built by The Tattooed Pirate. right away i was really pleased with the machine, doesn't hurt that i got a free t-shirt with it! the construction is amazing, it was really hard to believe that someone designed and built the machine, real pro-quality! So the first tattoo i used it on was re-working some tribal forearm bands. nothing to intense, i used a 7liner with a disposable tube. It lined very well. I was able to line as if i was using a coil machine, usually i have to be super careful with rotarys and lining, but with the TC i was able to bear down and line like a madman! it also helped that its the lightest machine i own and that was a super benefit when i was lining. long lines wrapping around the forearm were very easily performed, then i did a skull b+g but hard a hard time shading with it, seemed to fill good but still to hard for soft shading.

so today i did two shaded pieces with it, except i changed to stroke length to the shortest setting, which i also have to comment on the great workmanship on the bearing of this machine, it has 3 different stroke length settings, really cool how he made it very easy to change. then i removed the "give" spring, which seemed to open the "give" completely, i was very happy when i did this, although i must say im excited for Cary to release this spring pack so i can try even more settings, but so far with that spring out the machine shaded(and i cant express this enough) exactly the way i was wanting a rotary shader!!! it worked great, i used a 15 mag and it was great and i used a 5 flat needle on some small feathers and it was perfect, im so excited to use it more this way, taking the spring out may not be recommended by Cary, i didn't think to ask, i just started exploring the options of this machine, oh and one that thing, the vice! the vice or chuck on this machine is a superb quality, ill upload pics soon, thanks for reading!

[turnrock]

what stroke length did you have it on for lining? i just got mine earlier today so i havent had a chance to play with it ..but damn i agree with everything you just said describing its construction and quality!

[Sarenity Tattoo]

i believe it was the 3.2 stroke(mid). ive run it on a few different volts setting as as well, trying to find the best, i run all my neotats at 10v.

[tugg]

what voltage did you find best for lining ?
I got mine today and manage to tryit out on 3 small tattoos the first being a long curly girly butterfly design on a inner calf ,I lined the lot with a tight 5 @9 volts but reckon I could push it maybe another .5-1.0 volt . I also cloured the same tattoo but with only a 5rs @10volts .
The 2nd tattoo was roman numerals on the side of the neck ,A good test I thought, tight 5 again. the tc again lined pretty well. though I did have the urge to up the volts abit .
all have been on mid stroke setting havn't yet tried varying the throw as yet . I want to have a little play with the voltages and stokes but maybe where I got a bigger tattoo where I can hide mistakes .

[Sarenity Tattoo]

what voltage did you find best for lining ?
I got mine today and manage to tryit out on 3 small tattoos the first being a long curly girly butterfly design on a inner calf ,I lined the lot with a tight 5 @9 volts but reckon I could push it maybe another .5-1.0 volt . I also cloured the same tattoo but with only a 5rs @10volts .
The 2nd tattoo was roman numerals on the side of the neck ,A good test I thought, tight 5 again. the tc again lined pretty well. though I did have the urge to up the volts abit .
all have been on mid stroke setting havn't yet tried varying the throw as yet . I want to have a little play with the voltages and stokes but maybe where I got a bigger tattoo where I can hide mistakes .

i used 8-10volts for the tattoos, slowly trying the machine out one volt at a time, but now that ive messed with it a bit i keep it on 10volts all the time just like my neotats, seems to be the best speed that works for me.

[slicksteel]

Can you guys post some close up pics of the machine and maybe make a vid of it in action:)

[tattooedpirate2]

Springs are being made right now they will be ready in about 2 weeks.

[tugg]

I've had another go with it today , I lined another peice today ,a sacred heart with angel wings .I ws able to experiment a little and found I could line nicely @around 11 volts. little bit pissed off though as I didn't get a tshirt with mine. lol.
will try and get a pic ,but my usual camera crapped out today,will have to knick my daughters camera tomorrow

[Baldrick]

Yeah I agree with the quality - nice workmanship, well balanced too.
I've got mine set on the shortest stroke and use for black & gray - running around 8 - 9 volts. It's made my gray shading so much smoother.
I'm gonna order another very soon set for colouring. Still use the rapier for lining as I really get on well with that.

I never had a shirt either lol.

One other guy in our studio who uses hyper v2's tried it and he wants one now too.

Nice work Cary - a real success :)

[tattooedpirate2]

Sorry about t shirts going overseas, its $16.00 to ship a $12.00 shirt so its not cost effective for you guys to pay the extra shipping for a free shirt. I'm working on some decals and bumper stickers for overseas. But if you see me at any of the US conventions and own one of my machines let me know and I will give you a free shirt.

[tugg]

no worries mate , I wasn't expecting one .

[elbo]

Id like a t shirt and i dont mind paying....as luck would have it ive just traded my long stroke dragonfly for a treasure chest...hmmmm im sooooo looking forward to using that baby...

[tattooedpirate2]

Anyone wants a shirt they are free just pay the shipping and I will send one out asap. I have all sizes and they come in black silk sreen color or I have some that are in color that are being printed now.

[elbo]

Springs are being made right now they will be ready in about 2 weeks.

Whats the spring set all about Cary????....and is it ok to run the TC without a spring(As one forum member had good results with no spring)...i got my Tc today and its very nice.

[G.Graves]

I took the spring out and used a soft piece of silicone hose 3mm in it's place. Got it from the hobby shop, i got two kinds from them. With this I'm able to take out most give and have a lot of give. Not sure if taking I out hurts it by hat sounds pretty crazy, might have to try that. Cory should chime in on this:)

[OwlsDen]

So, I suppose this is the best place to post this. I got a treasure chest from Throwhammers with an estimated less than 8 hours of use and have since put a minimum of 8 hours on it. Now yesterday a strange thing happened. I had been running it long stroke and had switched to medium stroke. Everything was going well running as it had been since I had it. I had done some black shading and was switching to color. All of the sudden the machine sped up. Maybe 20% faster, to exactly where I had always wished it was. I had been running my voltage high near 11volts. Now I was able to come down to high 9s. So after this long explanation my very basic question is " does this machine have a break in period?" it ran great before but now it is a monster. Still quiet no different noise just faster. I ran some outlines today and I was lining as fast or faster than with coils.

[slicksteel]

prob had to break in cary makes his stuff with precision high tolerances so their is no slop.

[OwlsDen]

That is what I was thinking.. I just have never heard anyone mention it with this machine..

[Administrator]

I emailed Cary a link to the thread so you should hear from him as soon as he hits his keyboard.

[tattooedpirate2]

Yes fellows there is a break in period to this machine. If you have one after several hours you should take the piston out and wipe it off. There may be some dust from the break in that can slow the machine down. Also when you change the stroke length to the shorter stroke the machine will gain rpms just like a 10 speed bike. The closer the axis on the crank to center the faster the rpm, the further from center is much slower. Hence you want to use the 3.5 mm stroke for lining which is pretty quick at 9-10 volts and really fast at 11-12 volts. 12volts-8,000 rpms. When I chose the motor I looked at the rpms of the Rapier II motor which is up around 14,000 rpms @ 12 volts. Which is way to fast for tattooing and using the machine at 8 volts the Rapier II is running at 6-7000 rpms. I felt more torque less rpms the motor will last longer and push bigger needles. Any furthe questions email me at [email protected] Cary

[tattooedpirate2]

Elbo shoot me an email and I will get you a spring set out to you.

[OwlsDen]

So the maximum safe voltage is? I was afraid to go over 11?

[aedmonds]

So, i just took apart my treasure chest to clean the piston. There was some "break in dust" that i cleaned up and DAMN, after i reassembled the machine it ran MUCH better, i mean, it ran good to begin with, but maybe a tid bit slower then i would like. After cleaning it any issue i had with the machine was solved, it squeaked a little bit, but not now. It seems to run faster, harder and smoother then before. Total time to do this was less then 5 mins ( and i had no idea what i was doing really) it was very easy and now i feel more educated about the machine. Dont be timid to do this, just pay close attention to how tight everything was screwed down so you can replicate it. (nothing was very tight, just tight enough) honestly i was considering selling the machine, thinking maybe it just wasint everything i hoped it would be. But no, im definatly not now.

[aedmonds]

@ owl, ive never run it above 11 max, and that was mostly to get more speed for lining and using larger magnums. After cleaning it out i imagine i wouldint want to run it past 10 now, tops. Defiantly take apart the piston mechanism and clean it off, if it hasint been done yet then im pretty damn sure it will be beneficial.

[slicksteel]

they seem to have a break in a re lube period to get them going great.

[aedmonds]

wait.. i thought i read these wernt supposed to be lubed ? there definatly wasint any lube in there when i took it apart.

[OwlsDen]

Yeah min snapped in to perfection yesterday and I will eventually take it apart and clean it but it is running so much better. I did some small cherries today on the nape. Lined with the neo tat and colored with the treasure chest. I have never liked tattooing the nape as it is always a pain. Today the color flew in the chest beasted some color. I am loving my rotaries.

[aedmonds]

yea i just read the paperwork cary gave me, it says use of oil based lubrication will cause the machine to malfunction, and doesint say anything else in regards to lube.

[aedmonds]

Thats funny you say that owl, ive never liked tattooing the nape of the neck either but for some reason using rotarys has completely changed that, it was just as easy as any other "easy" body part. I wonder what the deal there is ? i mean, i can still use my coils to get the job done easyer and faster in every way, generally.But for some damn reason certain areas of the body, nape being one of them, are much easyer with rotarys. ( neotats and treasure chest so far)

[OwlsDen]

I am pretty sure that this is a lube free machine.

[tattooedpirate2]

Yes fellows no lube is required the piston is teflon impregnated to help it slide. The top voltage is 12 volts on the motor, but I have run them up to 16 volts. The manufacturer said you can do this but it will shorten the life of the motor. As for using the machine without a give spring this is ill advised for the needle pin will impact the top of the frame and cause metal to fall into the piston bore. Spring for the spring give set it will save the machine unnessasary wear and tare, at $20.00 US its well worth the money. You guys can email me any questions, I don't mind telling the secrets of the machines. It's what I'm here for, to help the industry, not hinder.

[Requaink]

Hay guys just my two cents ive had a pirate machine for almost 3 years now
Cary has always been super cool with any questions i had.
I mostly shade with mine on a short stroke but its a good machine
all around. I know you guys are talking about a diferant machine i think
Mine is a rapier. But cary's engineering is great.

[slicksteel]

wait.. i thought i read these wernt supposed to be lubed ? there definatly wasint any lube in there when i took it apart.
it is impregnated with teflon but you can use a small sheen of this on that type of material for even better performance:
http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Bowld-Teflon-Lube/dp/B00144172Q

[OwlsDen]

I imagine that lubricant would work well on most machines.

[aedmonds]

Thanks for the link Slick, have you used/ do you know about that kind of lube Cary ? Thoughts ? When i took the piston out there seemed to be some dust that mashed itself into the piston, or so it seemed. It operates fine so i wasint too concerned, but just incase how much could i get a replacement piston for, if i need one eventually ? I dont mean to take up your time here on the forum Cary, but i figure this info could possibly benefit more then a few people.

[OwlsDen]

Good point, I would like to know how much a new piston would be. Not that I see needing one, but in case.

[tattooedpirate2]

I don't use any lube in mine, it is such a tight tolerence it may hinder the machine when its new. But ,later on when it's been used for a long time it would close the gap again. I tried the machine with several types of lube when I built the first ones and found that using them dry was best. The plastic the piston is made out of swells in the bore from friction to improve the performance, ike knurlizing your pistons to fit the bore in a blueprinted race engine. I have the first one and I have never put lube in mine and I use it every single day. I try to break all my machines to see how long they will last. My brothers shop 3 different artists use the second machine 7 days a week and no lube as well for indurance. You can check his site out www.joedrachekicksass.com (http://www.joedrachekicksass.com) very long sessions and no problems so far. He's the bull in the china shop so to speak when it comes to tattoo machines.

[Clone Boy]

I have just bought a 2nd hand treasure chest and wow its quality stuff. the only thing is i never got instructions to alter the stroke. Is there any owners of the same machine who could give me a quick how to guide?

Thanks

Luke

[OwlsDen]

The spindle that connects the crank arm to the motor has a screw on it. Remove that and look at the spindle. There are three holes. Each one slightly further from the center. The furthest is the longest stroke.

[Clone Boy]

Ha!.... Is that it? I should be blonde haha.. Cheers den...

[Kacki]

Also, there is a hole under the bottom that you need to stick a sma;; allen wrench in so it will stop the crank from spinning while you are trying to take out that screw.

[OwlsDen]

Also, there is a hole under the bottom that you need to stick a sma;; allen wrench in so it will stop the crank from spinning while you are trying to take out that screw.

Thank you, yes that step is important too. You can skip it, but it is better if you don't. I skipped that once and while I was tattooing the screw came out. I was pretty embarrassed.