Bouncing needle??? Help!

Yesterday, I experienced something I've never had happen to me in 8 years of tattooing. Working on a guy's calf on a large session, my coil liner and my rotary both did the same thing periodically...and it weirded me out.

If I refer to the needle as "sitting" in the tube, then by using the word "bounce" you should get a good idea of what I mean. Randomly, the needle on BOTH machines throughout lining/coloring would bounce from the sitting position for a few seconds, almost as if there were no rubber bands on the needle.

Has anyone experienced this? It led to a frustrating experience. His skin was dry/tighter than normal...not sure if that had anything to do with it.

I think most people have witnessed this. I used to bend my needle bar and I had this happen. Then I started bending the needle head, using only diamond tips and do my best to use tubes that fit my needles very well. I have almost eliminated needle walk / bounce. Hope that helps

I too had this issue when bending the bar. like owlsden stated closer to the solder w/ your bend. and seemed to happen if my needle bar was too tight against armature pin(would make needle ride funny in the tube). another reason to love cartridges, lol.