Jackhammer?

[OwlsDen]

Does any one have infinitive information on the original Jackhammer machine? Or was there ever an original? Has it always been a Gen 1 swash clone? I have seen some mention in a few places. In one part of the forum, i saw that it was handmade and about 200$. But I don't know as that I have ever seen one. Can you tell it apart easily from the china junk? Or am I fooling myself and this machine is just renamed china junk? I know it is a ton of questions, but any help would be appreciated.

[machineboy80]

well for me it looks like a replica of the hyper machine they have the same stile do i never seen a gen 1

[The Limey]

This (http://www.worldwidetattoo.com/english/product/jack-hammer-rotary-tattoo-machine) should let you fill in the blanks...

[aurelien]

I don't know i saw a catalogue pretending to sell the original. but they also sell the fake fk irons and some wierd stuff amongst good machines like stigma's etc ... so it s really hard to tell if they re lying or not. In an case the pic defo seems to be the chinese replica.
http://www.thetattooshop.co.uk/shop/jack-hammer-tattoo-machine.html
Please check the other machines, i m curious about this noxid thing and the storm too.

[OwlsDen]

This (http://www.worldwidetattoo.com/english/product/jack-hammer-rotary-tattoo-machine) should let you fill in the blanks...

Thanks, I can tell a difference. The bearing on top is different and has a c-ring on top of the bearing. It definitely looks a bit more robust. I don't think I would pay 200$ for one. As I am pretty sure it is just a swash gen.1 clone. Thanks for the link.

[Sage Oz]

Junk.

[Sage Oz]

A Storm would be a much better investment if you want an inexpensive backup machine.

[wildboy]

Dont even bother trying one of these... You can buy them for a couple of bucks from China its really a total rip off selling them for 200$ There is no original Jackhammer.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/NEU-Tattoomaschine-Tattoo-Maschine-Rotary-Motor-Gold-/330557882021?pt=Künstlerbedarf&hash=item4cf6c8fea5

The swash like mechanism goes to hell after a couple of weeks believe me I had like 5 of them ^^

Available in black also

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Profi-Rotary-Tattoomaschine-Gun-Schwarz-Tatowiermaschine-Liner-Shader-NEU-/190582455707?pt=Künstlerbedarf&hash=item2c5f997d9b

http://www.needlejig.com/Canister.html

[OwlsDen]

Oh I would never pay 200$ for one. But if I see the better one for cheap, I might try it. I don't think I would buy the ultra cheap one unless I wanted it for parts. It was more of a curiosity thing really.

[wildboy]

which one is better? i think theyre all the same

[OwlsDen]

The one from WWT is different they sell both. Look at the top. One is a solid piece. The other has a c-ring holding the bearing down as well some of the fit and finish looks a little better. Still not worth 200$ but if I see one on eBay I can spot the difference now.

[tugg]

I believe they were a swash gen 1 clone , only total crap and not a very long throw for a rotary. I have to admit I have one in my top drawer but only paid about £20 for it . It was my first toe dipping into rotaries and nearly turned me off for life.
I would've been really pissed off had I paid 200$.

[OwlsDen]

Yeah I don't think I would ever buy one. I saw an eBay auction recently touting it as a real jackhammer machine and not tge regular Chinese crap. All I was ever wondering was if there was say a "stealth" in the crap gen 1 swash clones. And there might be. Dose not mean I would buy one.

[Magnu]

I think I may have one with the C clip tucked away in a drawer somwhere, I'll see if I can track it down. It was sold as a jackhammer and I did try it and even managed to work with it but soon went back to the steaths I was using at the time.

[OwlsDen]

Well if you don't want much money for it, I might take it for a test drive.

[tatu richie]

to me it looks like the chinese... i have 2

[Sage Oz]

There aren't even parts to salvage off one unless you can unshrink heatshrink tubing.

[pert]

had the cheap copy and the original of this machine......theres a mountain of difference in how they work.
same thing for the swash drive copy as well. gen 6 copy was exactly the same shape and only for a bit of writing on the side you couldnt see any difference....until you turned them on.

DONT BUY CHEAP SHITE FROM CHINA....OR FOLKS SELLING IT.

[aurelien]

so ... there is an original ?

[OwlsDen]

so ... there is an original ?

Yes it looks like it. In the sense that the stealth is an original Swiss clone. The first swash gen1 clone is the Jackhammer and is built better than the others it would seem. I haven't used one yet.

[wildboy]

Hmmm I doubt that... There were the clones for a long time and at some point some people named them Jackhammer... Was like 3 years ago... You cant tell from the pictures anyways if you order the Chinese crap machines they look different every time you get them.

[Jim]

An old friend of mine is a China machine freak, he buys them in bulk on ebay when they are at 2.00 with free shipping or something or another. Of course he's rough on machines or anything else within grabbing distance when pissed off and goes through them kinda quick, I'd suggest good machines and anger management but to each his own. I told him I was thinking of building machines again, I only did one off coils years ago on american frames, wrapped coils, replaced springs, corrected the geometry and all that jazz. Before I left, he gave me a box of broken Chinese rotaries I was gonna salvage and do some experimenting on rotary builds, when I have some time, and build a refractory and a forge, to pour frames. A couple of the machines in the box are the swash rip offs, they are junk compared to the real ones I have, however the Jackhammer one is very close to the original except, it's stroke hits at inconsistent depths sort of like coils do, but without any give like coils so that's not good thing. The other swash rip off is total junk the C-clips are not fastened to the frame they are held in place by being larger than the frame and the C-clip holes are larger than the little frame pins so there's lots of flop, it might be possible to fasten the c-clip with larger pins by taking the bearing off tapping the frame and putting screws to hold the c-clip in place then re assemble the bearing, then it might work kind of decent, it's very light, I have heard of people buying the junk ones to replace a broken frame on their real swashes though...so they do have some use after all. There's one that looks like a Neds with the adjuster on top, that's a bit off there's a screw in the way of the tube vice and the return spring is no where near sitting at 90 degrees like it should be. I don't even want to know whats wrong with the Dragonfly ripoff, there wasn't one of those in the box...I guess they aren't cheap enough for him to throw yet :p As for the Swiss ripoffs they are super close to the original I have, although the armatures are loose on the retaining pins, one is a Stealth and some others are exactly the same thing, Stealth just buys the Chinese machine re-brands it as a Stealth and does a considerable price markup. So buyer beware...While writing this thread I have an idea I want to do to some of the junk, when I build what I am thinking I'll post a picture of it here in this thread later on.

[OwlsDen]

I'd like to see what you come up with.

[Jim]

The idea I had was to take two of the swash rips and hybrid both together, the outcome is better than both were originally. A surprise side effect of the conversion is that the damn thing now has a consistent hit, give as well as adjustable stroke.
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp263/skatetrix72/random rebuild/mutt1.jpg
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp263/skatetrix72/random rebuild/mutt4.jpg
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp263/skatetrix72/random rebuild/mutt2.jpg
The red armature is taken from the jackhammer, the C-clip was flipped and placed to the back this evened out the hit and added give of all things as a bonus. The Red thumb chuck is the inner vice slide from the jackhammer. The bearing drum had to be drilled out to fit the motor shaft, and by loosening the bearing drum with a Allen wrench the drum can be slid up and down to adjust stroke. Feel free to build one of these your self if you have two of these laying around drilling out the drum is probably the most challenging part for a novice.

[No Iron Machines]

Hello

they all the same this chinese machines, don look for original, thy are not original in china....

[OwlsDen]

It all started with something I saw on eBay. It didn't look like a swash drive gen 1 exactly and it didn't look exactly like the china machines either. I wound up not bidding on it. Thanks guys. Also a forum member is sending me a jackhammer machine to play with.

[bluerocker]

good thread, my first rotary was a gold jackhammer and i paid around 30 bucks for it, at the time knowing not much about rotaries i actually grew to likin it, then started shopping around for others and soon realised it werent at the top of the tree!! so when that one broke, actually lasted quite a while, i started to buy higher end rotaries aswell as some coils. after using the machines i have now, out of curiosty i purchased a black one, to just compare really. the difference was mental.
the gold one seemed to be made from plastic and seemed very light and looked a lil tacky, the black one was much heavier, better pins, smooth as hell, parts are of a much higher standard and just felt all round better built. short stroke so found it best for b&g, the nipple movement had next no side movement and is perfectly aligned with the vice. i dont use it that often but everynow and then fancy a change and fire it up and it hasnt faltered.
could just be a new version or they made a seperate spec i dont know, but really is a difference. not that i support chinese machines ; )

[OwlsDen]

There seem to be a lot of versions. With small differences. It's like the stealth, some are copies of a copy of a copy and it shows.

[bluerocker]

yeah i see what ya saying owl, does that mean ya think that were was an 'original copy' like stealth status and then cheaper versions were made from that, seems feasable and most probably likely thats the case, hence why some are better than others

[OwlsDen]

yeah i see what ya saying owl, does that mean ya think that were was an 'original copy' like stealth status and then cheaper versions were made from that, seems feasable and most probably likely thats the case, hence why some are better than others

That is the assumption, there are some that do look better than others. But i am not sure i have ever even held one.

[bluerocker]

the better i have owl, is a dull matt finish on the frame, the gold one i had was plastic if i remeber rightly, yet they cost about the same????
may have just got lucky with that one

[turnrock]

the original749574967497

[OwlsDen]

Haha definetly. That is bad ass. I am still kicking myself for not grabbing one when Unimax was selling them years ago.

[OwlsDen]

I think I may have one with the C clip tucked away in a drawer somwhere, I'll see if I can track it down. It was sold as a jackhammer and I did try it and even managed to work with it but soon went back to the steaths I was using at the time.

Hi, i got the machine today. This is the one that i was thinking of. The top bearing housing is open and it has a c-clip to secure the bearing in the housing. I am a little surprised at the fit and finish of the machine. It is a little better than i expected. Unfortunately The stroke is very short ( about 2mm ), so i am not sure what it would be best at. Maybe doing some greywash. Thanks again, it's like christmas every time i get a machine. If you ever need anything check with me.