Hello everyone,
I received Dale's machine on monday, and got to try it all week so far.
And hell what a BRILLIANT all arounder that is !! I am seriously impressed with it. We all know Rotaryworks I think.
I had a couple of brass standards, and an aluminium springer just to let you know.
So this machine is a springer type machine with a cam going up down like the usual. the machine is very very quiet and because of the brass I think, is pretty much vibration free.
Here's the beast.
Attachment 20821
It comes with a soft and hard spring, but to be honest, I left it at the soft one, put maximum give and turned in 3/4 quarter turn maybe. And that's it. And that's perfect because I hate fiddling with rotaries as I can't rely on sound. I only adjust the work to do with the voltage and it's borderline perfect.
Lining :
So far I tried lining, fine bold one pass and sculpting, and it beats hands pretty much every rotaries I tried (stigma hyper, hawk thunder, former rotary works, egos, different direct drives, swashdrives gen7 and whip and I probably forgot some more). I line around 9 volts, more towards 9.5 the tighter the needles or smaller groupings.
Shading :
As for the shading I only uses 15 magnums with it at the moment, which is pretty much everything I use. (5 liner, 9 round sharder and 15 mags). The shading is SPOT ON. No marks whatsoever, blending is dead easy (I mean as easy as it can get obviously) and it's doesn't harm the skin, even with multiple pass, thanks to the give, which feels a lot like a coil.I shade around 8 to 8.5 volts.
Colouring :
I always preferred faster machine as I have a fast hand. Although I love slow a punchy packer, I like to be able to pack AND layer too on the same tattoo depending on the design. Same voltage as above, 8 to 8.5. And it's flawless. It goes in smooth, It tried a variety of pigments, from the most liquids I have (fantasia) which didn't splatter all over the place nor went back up the tube, to the thickest Waverly yellows and still did an incredible job.
Here are some tattoos I did with it. They haven't been touched up yet and not my best stuff but screw it I'll touch it up later when the time comes, it's for the machine hey ?
Attachment 20822Attachment 20823Attachment 20824Attachment 20825
So to end the review, which I think as been over positive, I' ll just add the few negative spots about it (which aren't very much really). First and foremost, band snapping. I always had this issue with my RWs. I tried a few things, including Paul's clever way of crossing them around like an X but I changed for very slightly smaller bands and it's too much pressure on the bar. I only had one band snap in the week, but I when taking them off after the tattoo I noticed they were damaged with slight cuts. Second is the motor. I had absolutely no problems at all with this machine. None. But in the past my rotaryworks showed some inconstancies after a few month running day in day out, and (it may not even be the motor) they began slowing down a bit and having two machines that are the same but run different makes me uncomfortable. Although Dale is a perfect gentleman and sent me 2 motors to change. I was just raising the point that having such a good machine is a real pleasure, and I would mind paying the extra money for a top motor. (Don't get me wrong I m not saying those are bad !!). And one last thing which as been rectified is the nipple bar (i think Dale changed it some time ago) now has a small bit that prevent grommets to get torn apart. Awesome.
The bottom word is I WILL buy a set, seriously. Having hands problem lately and still loving my coils, it is the perfect replacement for me. Seriously guys. The ink flies in, with no damage, even when lining on bony parts, no spreading etc ... I have been very impressed with it and I made my work mates run it on one tattoo each and they were conquered and are gonna order some too.
Well that's it. Any questions please do feel free to ask
